• The Role of EQA in Laboratory Medicine External Quality Assessment (EQA) is a service where participating clinical laboratories are sent samples on a regular basis which they test as if they had come from patients. Results are returned to EQA centres which provide a report that compares the participant's performance with that of all laboratories and/or groups of laboratories using the same test method(s).
• EQA complements the Internal Quality Control (IQC) procedures that laboratories use to monitor within- and between-analytical run variability.

The UK NEQAS Organisation

• The UK NEQAS organisation is a confederation of EQA schemes whose members comply with the UK NEQAS Code of Practice. This embodies the primary educational aims and not-for-profit status of UK NEQAS , firmly based in the science of laboratory medicine.
• The UK NEQAS organisation is embodied in The UK NEQAS Consortium - a Company limited by guarantee and a Registered UK Charity. It is composed of member Schemes represented by their Organisers or Managers and is served by an elected Executive Committee and Office.
• Virtually all Member Schemes are located within NHS Trust Hospital clinical service laboratories or University Departments.

UK NEQAS First Contact Information