Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to SMI B 37: Investigation of blood cultures (for organisms other than Mycobacterium species), if he will make it his policy that each microbiology laboratory in the NHS undertakes an audit of their blood culture pathway to ensure effective antibiotic stewardship.

United Kingdom Standards for Microbiology Investigations (UK SMIs) B 37: Investigation of blood cultures (for organisms other than Mycobacterium species) are developed by the UK SMI Working Groups under the auspices of Public Health England. SMI B 37 describes the processing and microbiological investigation of blood cultures and aims to set standards for each stage of the investigative process. These can then be used as a benchmark to audit against by certification and accreditation bodies if they wish.

The UK SMIs are not mandatory and there is no legal obligation to follow the recommendations in UK SMIs. In using UK SMIs, laboratories should take account of local requirements and undertake additional investigations where appropriate.

UK SMIs are National Institute for Health and Care Excellence accredited and represent a good standard of practice. NHS England has included compliance with UK SMIs in the National Health Service Standard Contract 2017-18.