The Scottish Microbiology and Virology Network (SMVN) brings together professionals from across NHS Scotland to co-ordinate and facilitate the provision of equitable, high quality, safe, patient centred and clinically effective Medical Microbiology and Virology services at a national level, in line with the Healthcare Quality Strategy for NHS Scotland.
- The SMVN, established in 2012, is a formal Managed Diagnostic Network within NHS National Services Scotland and is supported by the National Network Management Service. It is led by Dr Martin Connor (Clinical Lead) and Dr Fiona MacKenzie (Scientific Manager) and reports to the Laboratories Executive Board and Diagnostics in Scotland Strategic Group.
- The SMVN operates Scotland-wide and transcends geographical, organisational and professional boundaries, encompassing all NHS Boards. It provides interactive peer support for Microbiologists and Virologists employed by NHS Scotland and facilitates the timely exchange of information on clinical and scientific issues required for the provision of safe, effective clinical care, prevention of infection and public health protection.
- The SMVN is a source of expert advice to Scottish Government, Public Health Scotland, the Scottish Antimicrobial Prescribing Group and other national groups, as required.
- The network has a number of sub-groups addressing key topics and work streams.
COVID-19
Since the start of 2020, both the SMVN and its constituent NHS Health Board laboratories have played a leading role in NHS Scotland’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic; delivering on the enormous challenge of rapidly providing an NHS Scotland laboratory diagnostic testing service, whilst also informing and driving testing strategy and policy.
The SMVN, via its SARS CoV-2 (COVID-19) Testing Technical Group, has demonstrated exceptional leadership in a number of key areas and recently received the Scottish Government’s Chief Healthcare Science Officer INNOVATOR AWARD. The group, chaired by Dr Fiona MacKenzie, has met (via Microsoft Team) up to three times per week since March 2020 to the present day and has daily contact with laboratories. It provides national coordination of efforts in:
- Procurement, validation, national rollout and ongoing support of equipment and tests.
- Peer support; sharing of intelligence, experiences, reagents, assays and consumables etc.
- Innovation and quality management.
- Point of care testing (POCT).
- Weekly performance data reports for Scottish Government.
- Strategy development
The SMVN works closely with the NSS National Procurement, Specialist Virology Centres, Health Protection Scotland (HPS), Scottish Government, UK Government and companies providing equipment and tests. It continues to meet demands to; increase testing capacity; provide POCT, as well as laboratory-based testing, and widening of testing to include other pathogens (such as Flu and RSV over the winter months).