EXTERNAL QUALITY ASSESSMENT
guidelines and ultimately, fulfil our common goal of better support for clinicians and patients.”
As well as helping to create guidelines, UK NEQAS is able to give support in enabling access, so that they are freely available to as many people as possible.
levels of knowledge. Where possible, we want to share our learnings with developing countries so that their patients will also benefit from our work. Melody explains more: “The Genomics Quality Assessment centre (GenQA), part of UK NEQAS, offers many different genomic tests from laboratory assessments to individual competency assessments. We have developed a bespoke online training platform known as GENie – Genomic Online Individual Education – that is available to anyone to use, any scientist, clinician or trainee. GENie offers a comprehensive suite of training modules tailored to a wide range of specialties and skills, and today over 50,000 participants worldwide have used GENie, working through the modules and increasing their personal competency in genomics. It’s a unique way to offer education and assessment world-wide and is a great example of how UK NEQAS shares specialist knowledge. We envisage that over time, a wider range of people will use GENie including clinical geneticists and genetic counsellors, and potentially other healthcare professionals who are interested in learning more about genomics as it becomes embedded within mainstream medicine. “As well as personal education and competency, we also share knowledge about new tests and technology that become available. We provide neutral feedback on the performance of these tests and tech, analysing potential benefits – or issues – and share our findings. This assures clinicians and reference laboratories that they are fit for purpose and ultimately, help to define
their benefit to patients. UK NEQAS operates in over 175 countries, attending and hosting seminars and workshops around the world, all designed to ensure the best patient outcomes.”
Promoting debate As all UK NEQAS’s Directors are renowned experts, their association with the relevant specialist institute enables difficult conversations with peers, within the parameters of continuous improvement. Richard, for example, works closely with the British Society for Haematology on testing guidelines and also provides information to SHOT on laboratory errors for inclusion in its annual report.
SHOT is the UK’s independent,
professionally led haemovigilance scheme that collects and analyses anonymised information on adverse events and reactions in blood transfusion from healthcare organisations in the UK. Serious Hazards of Transfusion (SHOT) has been in place since 1996, recommending ways to improve patient safety when risks and problems are identified. Richard explains: “We have
shared data and input into various recommendations over the years, particularly for patients who have received transfusions or organ donations, after which it may be difficult to determine their natural blood group. It is not always comfortable raising issues or challenging convention, but being recognised by a professional institute, and backing our proposals and questions with data, we can work together with other professionals to accurately improve
WWW.PATHOLOGYINPRACTICE.COM OCTOBER 2024
Improving service by cooperation UK NEQAS recognises that multi- disciplinary team (MDT) meetings are crucial settings to pool knowledge and determine the most appropriate pathway for clinical teams to deliver the optimum treatment and support. Many of the centres support these MDTs, for example, a haemato-oncology MDT will rely on results from laboratories participating in EQAs offered by the Haematology, Cellular Pathology, Genomics, and Leucocyte Immunophenotyping teams, amongst others. Participation in these EQAs strengthens the overall output of the MDT and, therefore, the care provided for each patient. Melody says: “GenQA pride ourselves as being the sole genomics EQA provider to cover the entire clinical genomics service but until recently this was delivered in separate EQA programmes. In response to participant demand we are unique in providing EQA for the genomics MDT as a single functional unit. We now hope to take this one step further and offer a pilot EQA for the genomic molecular tumour board (MTB) for lung cancer.” The proactive approach to education and sharing expertise both nationally and internationally, across the scientific community and within a clinical setting - and even into the public domain where relevant – is what sets UK NEQAS apart. It is why testing results from UK NEQAS participants are trusted both by clinicians and patients, and why a multitude of experts come together to facilitate better patient outcomes wherever and however possible.
Melody Tabiner, Deputy Director, GenQA (Genomics Quality Assessment) Richard Haggas, Director, UK NEQAS Blood Transfusion Laboratory Practice
About UK NEQAS
UK NEQAS is a charitable consortium of external quality assessment providers. It aims to improve patient care through monitoring the quality of tests and their reporting, in an independent manner and on a not-for-profit basis. The primary role of UK NEQAS is educational. It is committed to supporting a culture of continuous quality improvement within UK NEQAS and among its partners and participants. UK NEQAS provides an appropriate, responsive and high standard of EQA to clinical laboratories.
+44 (0)114 261 1689
centraloffice@ukneqas.org www.ukneqas.org.uk
35
AdobeStock / ChasingMagic /
peopleimages.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
