EXTERNAL QUALITY ASSESSMENT


UK NEQAS: delivering far more than external quality assessment


Liam Whitby, President of the United Kingdom National External Quality Assessment Service (UK NEQAS) explains the reason why UK NEQAS is a world leader in EQA.


I like to think of the UK NEQAS team as being similar to maths teachers at school. We’re not there to catch you out in a test; rather it is our job to share the tools and the knowledge so that you can find the right answer to what can be quite complex problems. Our mission is to improve global diagnostic testing in every way possible. My greatest pleasure is when we


dispatch a clinically challenging test and every laboratory delivers the correct answer.


EQA is exciting Let’s be honest, if we don’t have checks then things will go wrong. So not surprisingly, I believe that external quality assessment (EQA) is very important. EQA services are a key stage in the


quality matrix that supports physicians in correctly diagnosing a disorder and the ongoing monitoring of that disease. By combining competent laboratory teams and strong internal controls, with external quality assessments; we can gather together all of the evidence to build better diagnostics, and to support clinicians to make informed decisions with confidence. Our role is to improve global diagnostics testing and we do this through quality assessment and education. Why? Because everything we do is for the benefit of patients. Let’s focus on the education part for a moment. Many people do not realise that UK NEQAS is a registered charity – more on the reason why later – and our stated primary role is education. At UK NEQAS education has a very wide meaning. We pass on relevant information by producing and giving access to EQA summary reports. We teach in person via masterclasses, educational events, e-learning, and interpretative schemes. We open up access to experts in a specific field via webinars and scientific meetings. We embed and inform best practice.


During 2022-2023, UK NEQAS


UK NEQAS encourages critical thinking about internal and external quality assessments, making it an integral part of the laboratory process.


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delivered 86 webinars, reaching 8,500 delegates worldwide. These online education sessions covered a range of specialisms in clinical laboratory science and also included pan-disciplinary events. Recordings are always available for later viewing on our website. We held multiple specialist face- to-face meetings for areas including: genetics, haematology, microbiology, chemistry, blood transfusion, reproductive science, histology, immunology, blood coagulation, histocompatibility and immunogenetics,


MAY 2024 WWW.PATHOLOGYINPRACTICE.COM


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