The Biobank of the Andalusian health system renews its commitment to quality
The Biobank of the Public Health System of Andalusia has renewed the certificate that accredits the excellent conditions of its quality management system according to the ISO 9001:2015 standard on quality management system requirements.
The audit carried out highlights the commitment and excellence of this Andalusian healthcare network structure to offer a quality service to its users. In this sense, the evaluation has focused on determining the conformity of the organization's management system with the audit criteria; assess that it complies with applicable legal, regulatory and contractual requirements; and, finally, determine the effectiveness of the management system to ensure good service to its users.
The certification obtained covers different aspects of the Biobank management system of the Public Health System of Andalusia, such as the provision of services for the provision, custody and processing of blood products or derivatives, tissues, substances or biological samples of human origin, and lines of human pluripotent stem cells, for use in research and teaching; the coordination of the Biobank of the Public Health System of Andalusia in its research area; technical advice on management of human samples for research; the design and delivery of training in the area of biomedical research; and the Registry of donors of biological samples for biomedical research.
This certification represents recognition of the maturity and effectiveness of its quality management system, and confirms its willingness to develop in a line of progress to provide a more adjusted response every day to the expectations of researchers and users of the public health system. .
The SSPA Biobank has been increasing its activity progressively since the moment of its creation. In recent years, it has received nearly 79,000 donations from patients with oncological, infectious and parasitic diseases, mental, cardiovascular, respiratory, genitourinary diseases, etc. and from healthy patients who are used as controls. These donations have meant a total of nearly 185,000 different samples that have made it possible to meet more than 1,200 requests from researchers and teachers.
As of today, the Andalusian Registry of Sample Donors for Biomedical Research has a total of 2,476 registered. Currently, the Registry is actively promoting the donation of samples from patients who have overcome COVID-19 to contribute to research into this disease. All the information about this campaign can be found on the website: www.biobancosspa.com
About the Biobank
The Biobank of the Public Health System of Andalusia is organized as a network biobank formed by different associated nodes on provincial platforms, linked to health institutions and with a Coordination Node located in Granada. As a network biobank, it constitutes a resource platform that offers all types of biological samples and associated clinical data to researchers. At the same time, the Network of Tissue and Cell Transfusion Centers offers healthcare activity in this area framed in the structure of the Andalusian Health System (SAS).
Integrated into the Biobank is the Andalusian Registry of Sample Donors for Biomedical Research, which is a tool that allows Andalusians to participate directly in the development of research through a database in which basic identification information is collected. and health of people interested in participating, who can donate any biological sample of human origin such as blood, tears, saliva, hair, nails, feces, urine, sweat, etc.
The body responsible for the Registry is the General Secretariat of Research, Development and Innovation in Health of the Ministry of Health and Families, and the SSPA Biobank is in charge of its management.