UK NEQAS Haematology 23rd Annual Participants’ meeting,Tuesday 18 October 2022, Liverpool
The UK NEQAS Annual Participants’ meeting is fully subscribed by pre-paid delegates. Thank you for your interest in the meeting.
Joint UK NEQAS BTLP/BBTS SIG Annual Participants’ meeting,Thursday 24 November 2022, Birmingham
The Joint UK NEQAS BTLP/BBTS SIG Annual Participants’ meeting is fully subscribed by pre-paid delegates. Thank you for your interest in the meeting.
Extension to 22DAT4U and 22DAT4N closing dates
Owing to delays with receipt of samples, the closing dates for exercises 22DAT4N and 22DAT4U are being extended by one day to 29/11/22.
ICSH Scholarship Applications OPEN
ICSH is pleased to announce the application window is NOW OPEN for its two exciting Awards:
• 2022 ICSH Carol Briggs-Smalley Scholarship
• 2022 ICSH Sam Machin Scholarship
The Carol Briggs-Smalley Award seeks applications from Medical Technologists and Medical Laboratory Scientists on laboratory haematology projects, particularly those that are related to standardization in laboratory haematology.
The Sam Machin Award seeks applications from medical graduates who are either undertaking specialist haematology training (Haematologist-in-Training) or have completed specialist haematology training in the past 5-years.
We are delighted to also announce the scholarship awards are each now £10,000.
Applications are open until
12:01am GMT on Monday 5th December 2022
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Changes to scoring for Hb S%
A change has been made to the way the analytical performance score is calculated for the Hb S% parameter. The analytical performance score is a running score calculated from the deviation index (DI) values from the most recent six specimens for which results have been returned, with the application of a multiplication factor. The multiplication factor has been reduced from 9 to 8 for Hb S%, effective from 2205AH. As a result of this change, you may notice a small step-change reduction in your Hb S% performance score. If you have any questions or concerns about this change, please contact us on +44 (0)1923 587111 or email [email protected]
2022 Re-Registration
UK NEQAS Haematology
Re-registration process is now closed for UK NEQAS Haematology. For queries, please contact [email protected]
UK NEQAS Blood Transfusion Laboratory Practice (BTLP)
Re-registration process is now closed for UK NEQAS Blood Transfusion Laboratory Practice (BTLP). For queries, please contact [email protected]
Are you interested in becoming a scientific advisor?
UK NEQAS Haematology relies on the expertise of our Scientific Advisory Groups (SAGs) members, who provide advice, feedback and ideas to develop our services. We are always looking for new recruits. You do not have to be a national or international ‘expert’ in the field: we need representatives of our service users with an interest in laboratory haematology and an enthusiasm for the role of EQA in patient care. The SAGs operate in three areas: Automated Counting, Haemoglobinopathies and Morphology. We are keen to recruit to the Automated Counting SAG, especially if you are a Beckman Coulter user, but all expressions of interest are welcome. The time commitment is relatively small, comprising attendance at a couple of meetings annually, participation in occasional Task and Finish Groups and review of documentation. In return, you will be invited to the Annual Participants’ meeting (including accommodation) as our guest. If you are interested or would like to know more, contact Barbara De la Salle (01923 587111 or [email protected]). Don’t be afraid to ask or think you have nothing to offer!
UK NEQAS Newsletter 2022-2023
Please click here for the Haematology Newsletter 2022-2023
Please click here for the BTLP Newsletter 2022-2023
UK NEQAS Participants' manual
Please click here for the UK NEQAS Haematology Participants’ Manual – Version 12 (December 2021) available to download.
UK NEQAS Schedules for 2022/23
PDF copies of exercise schedules have been uploaded and can be accessed in our documents section. You can also use our online schedules list by clicking here Online schedules.
The online schedules page allows you to view all the exercises along with the opening, closing and reporting dates. You will also be able to filter down and view schedules for individual schemes. Further to this you can view an individualised schedule for your own PRN from that same page as long as you are logged in. To do this click the Login button, login with your PRN, Identity and Password and click the Distribution schedules option from the drop down menu with your initials.
All schedules allow you to export them as PDFs or Excel sheets so you can download and / or print them.
UK NEQAS Services Available List for 2021-2022
UK NEQAS Services Available List 2021-2022
The UK NEQAS Services Available List is a comprehensive directory of all UK NEQAS External Quality Assessment (EQA) / Proficiency Testing (PT) programmes, and is available to view online now. Haematology-related EQA programmes are listed on pages 8-10 of the directory.
Global EQA
The directory features over 500 different EQA/PT programmes covering over 5,000 unique analytes, ensuring full coverage of all aspects of clinical laboratory testing.
New Developments
The UK NEQAS consortium has developed several new pilot modules and have launched a range of Covid-19 services, including new EQA/PT programmes and educational competency programmes, details of which can be found within the Services Available List.
UK NEQAS Covid-19 testing EQA
UK NEQAS offers a range of EQA to support Covid-19 diagnostic and monitoring testing. Click here for more information.
Parasitology Teaching Day
For access to UK NEQAS Parasitology website please click here. If you have any questions, please email us here.
Handling UK NEQAS Haematology and Transfusion specimens during the COVID-19 pandemic
UK NEQAS Haematology and Transfusion specimens are a low risk for Covid-19 infection, compared to clinical samples. We have undertaken a risk assessment and advice on handling our specimens and packages during the pandemic can be found here.
We gave consideration to cancelling and moving the exercise to a different date, however with the rapidly changing situation around COVID-19, it seemed very unlikely that there would be any short-term improvement in access to material.
The data entry pages for the exercise will still have details for both Patients 1 and 2. We have marked all Patient 2 samples as “Unsatisfactory sample quality – Sample not received” so that you can submit results without entering data for Patient 2.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused by this change.
Recruitment for EQA Quality Improvement Plan
The Royal College of Pathologist has set up a new pathology wide External Quality Assurance (EQA) review programme to improve the governance and culture of pathology Quality Assurance (QA). This is an opportunity for experienced laboratory medicine professionals to contribute their expertise to the four workstreams that have been established. If you are interested, please click here for more information or email [email protected]
Professor Keith Hyde elected to the IBMS Council
We were delighted by the news that Professor Keith Hyde, former UK NEQAS Haematology Director, has been elected to the IBMS Council. Follow him on Twitter @kh2409.
Haematology Automated Counting Advisory Group
UK NEQAS Haematology is looking to recruit an experienced Beckman Coulter instrument user to the Automated Counting Scientific Advisory Group. If you are interested or would like to know more, please email the Scheme Director ([email protected]).