Events during September 2023

Role of MDT – Clinical Perspective; Colposcopy for patients with learning difficulties

Development of a new EQA programme

Delegates will understand:

What is a quality culture.
Importance of obtaining and maintaining ISO accreditation.
Maintaining and improving quality and compliance.
Key tips for supporting daily quality and compliance.

This lecture will overview previous viral pandemics affecting humans and highlight lessons learned (or not). This lecture will provide the audience with background information relevant to the two subsequent talks on pandemics currently affecting and what might come next. At the end of this talk the audience will have knowledge on some major pathogenic viruses that have impacted hugely on the human population including:

Smallpox; influenza; polio; yellow fever; HIV and Ebola that bring us up to the novel coronavirus outbreaks that have plagued mankind during more recent years.

Benign glandular histology as potential for BLEC

An overview of Red Cell Immunohaematology (RCI), the services offered and how we fit in within the wider healthcare system.

Example cases starting with single specificity through to complex antibody identification using a variety of techniques. Discussing the need for consultant input when serology cannot be resolved and what happens next.

We will briefly cover duties beyond serology performed as a biomedical scientist and how these fit in nationally as well as locally.

Finishing on the progression routes through RCI, NHSBT and the wider transfusion community.

This session provides an overview of the key changes to the ISO 15189 standard and explains the UKAS transition process including deadlines and actions to be taken by accredited organisations.

The same session is being run on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday to ensure as many delegates as possible are able to attend.

Dimorphine-assisted treatment programme

How to report staining intensity for flow cytometry EQA exercises

Promoting and supporting training and education is an integral part of the work of UK NEQAS. As such the online Digital Morphology for CPD scheme (DM) was introduced some years ago as a companion to our glass-slide blood films for morphology (BF) EQA scheme. DM has been very successful and registration currently stands at just over 4,000 participants. DM recently underwent a major change when it was moved to a new platform and is now hosted on the UK NEQAS Haematology EQATE system.

The new EQATE platform offers significant flexibility over the old and allows for the development of additional modules, for example the recently introduced Haemosiderin cytochemistry EQA. Other new modules and features are proposed with some actively under design and testing. This presentation will look at how Digital Morphology and the EQATE platform have evolved, where we are with regards to the currently available modules, some of the challenges we face and a look at some future developments.