The Pathology External Quality Assurance (EQA) review is a two-year collaborative programme between the College, Association for Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Association of Clinical Pathologists, Institute of Biomedical Science, United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and EQA providers seeking to support the development of a robust framework for the system-wide governance and oversight of technical EQA including point of care testing (POCT). Its aim is to embed patient safety in pathology, support excellence in pathology, and provide safe, high-quality patient care across the NHS. 

As part of the programme, a number of national workstreams are being established. The aim is to bring together individuals from medical, scientific, and relevant allied health professional backgrounds to help design solutions along common themes essential to improve governance and oversight of EQA.

Some examples of areas of focus include:         

• the development of guidance for providers on managing method-related issues identified through EQA to reduce risk of avoidable harm to patients

• the development of common definitions of poor performance and persistent poor performance in EQA

• the integration of continuous quality improvement into EQA to include minimum acceptable performance standards (MAPS) and minimum acceptable distribution frequencies.

We are looking for experienced professionals with expertise in the oversight and delivery of technical EQA including POCT and/or quality improvement, and patient safety to join our work-streams. There will be a minimum of four meetings (a mix of teleconference and face to face) per year over two years with actions progressed via e-mail between meetings.

All reasonable travel costs will be reimbursed and this work will be recognised for CPD. 

For more details please contact Shane Johns: [email protected]