EXTERNAL QUALITY ASSESSMENT
My greatest pleasure is when we dispatch a clinically challenging test and every laboratory delivers the correct answer
and a pan-disciplinary event focused on point-of-care testing delivered further opportunities for collaboration.
Critical thinking Every single activity we offer is designed to support our participant laboratories and their clinical and laboratory staff. Importantly and alongside all of the above, we encourage critical thinking about internal and external quality assessments, making it an integral part of the laboratory process.
A huge part of what we do is centred
around bringing people together. We believe education is a collaborative process; that we can all learn from each other despite working in very different specialisms. So, we facilitate opportunities to exchange knowledge between laboratories about exciting opportunities – such as sharing details of new techniques or new instruments – and provide a safe environment to discuss common challenges. We know that sometimes a challenge can feel overwhelming. This is when we offer personal support and advice on specific issues or when someone wishes to learn more about a topic. We want
to equip them with all the resources, knowledge and guidance they need to optimise their own laboratory testing, and sometimes it’s just better to do this one-on-one.
Trusted and independent A scientist’s greatest resource is within UK NEQAS.
A lofty statement but one that I truly believe. Scientists can trust what UK NEQAS says because we are independent and run on a not-for-profit basis – hence our charitable status. This ensures that we can keep patients firmly at the heart of all that we do. Our charitably registered status and commercial neutrality mean that our advice is independent, without fear or favour, which means that scientists receive facts and can make decisions accordingly. We never endorse products, however, via our EQA programmes we can undertake meta-analysis on the performance of kits, techniques and instruments, so if UK NEQAS tells you something about a new test or new machine – either positive or negative – it can be trusted. Not-for-profit: yes we charge for our
services, but the amount payable is set as close to the actual cost of testing as possible. And scientists know that they are not just paying for the test – there is added value in our service through access to our expertise. UK NEQAS team members are healthcare scientists themselves (biomedical scientists and clinical scientists registered with The Health and Care Professions Council), with broad field-based experience, meaning they deliver the optimum, most relevant support and information to EQA centres, as well as to laboratories, medical and scientific staff, and to the public.
Analysis and studies We’ve co-authored or supplied data for 86 articles in peer reviewed scientific journals. Our neutrality means that our findings can be trusted too, which is why many technique guidelines are co-authored by UK NEQAS or are underpinned by our data. We have undertaken meta-analysis of thousands of laboratories worldwide, so we have complete datasets and globally comparable data. This allows us to work with, and support the research of national and international organisations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), Breast International Group and North American Breast Cancer Group (BIG-NABCG), European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), European Society for Human Genetics (ESHG), The Joint
Each of UK NEQAS’ programmes has a steering committee run by external experts to ensure that its EQA services are delivered on a scientific basis. 16 MAY 2024
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