External Quality Assessment

The NationWide Laboratories National External Quality Assessment (EQA) scheme is a simple, reliable, and cost-effective means of assuring quality in your practice’s laboratory analysers.

EQA is required of all RCVS Practice Standards Scheme participants who are, or aim to be General Practice status and above, although anyone who runs in-clinic instrumentation should use EQA as a means of ensuring the quality of in-clinic analyser results.

Our EQA will generate a report showing how your results compare to those from other analysers and the referral laboratory, helping you to ensure you maintain high standards in your testing services.

However, EQA is not a substitute for good in-clinic quality control (QC) which should be performed at regular intervals, determined by your practice’s case load. That is, a frequency of checks equivalent to the number of patient recalls and case reviews that would be manageable in the event of a QC failure.

What are the benefits of the EQA scheme?

• Compliance with the RCVS Practice Standards Scheme
• Assurance that internally generated results are of sufficient quality for clinical decision making
• Consistency of your lab results over time, using an independent unbiased laboratory as a reference

If you are interested in arranging an External Quality Assessment for your practice, please contact us and our expert team will assist you.