Abstract
With infection once again a high priority for the UK National Health Service (NHS), the medical microbiology and infection-control services require increased technology resources and more multidisciplinary staff. Clinical care and health protection need a coordinated network of microbiology services working to consistent standards, provided locally by NHS Trusts and supported by the regional expertise and national reference laboratories of the new Health Protection Agency. Here, I outline my thoughts on the need for these new resources and the ways in which clinical microbiology services in the UK can best meet the demands of the twenty-first century.
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Association of Clinical Microbiologists
Association of Medical Microbiologists
Chief Medical Officer (England)
Clinical Pathology Accreditation UK Ltd
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
Health Protection Service, Scotland
Institute of Biomedical Sciences
Institute of Decontamination Sciences
National Public Health Service for Wales
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Duerden, B. Twenty-first-century medical microbiology services in the UK. Nat Rev Microbiol 3, 979–983 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro1291
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro1291
