ACCREDITATION STATUS:

UKAS accredited proficiency testing provider No. 7795

CLINICAL APPLICATION:

Diagnosis and management of allergic disease

PURPOSE OF PROGRAMME:

Allergy and Immunodeficiency EQA scheme

ANALYTES:

PROGRAMME OF ANALYSIS:

Data entry is via the web for the submission of results. Data analysis is commenced 21 days after sample dispatch. Late returns are accepted and will contribute to the laboratory's cumulative performance statistics

DATA ANALYSIS:

Analysis by grade shows the overall response and the method specific responses. Analysis of the quantitative responses in Units shows the All Laboratory Trimmed Mean (ALTM) with truncation at 2SD, SD and CV%. Reports show method specific statistics. Individual laboratory performance is expressed in terms of MRBIS, SDBIS and MRVIS, the DV for calculation of VI being taken from the MLTM Chosen Coefficient of Variation for Allergen Specific IgE is 15%

PERFORMANCE SCORING:

Cumulative performance scores are based on the quantitative response with MRVIS scoring over a running window of twelve samples or twelve months

PERFORMANCE MONITORING:

Performance assessment is allergen specific. Quantitative performance is assessed for each allergen, and is over a running analytical window of 6 Distributions (12 months). The overall quantitative performance is expressed as the OMRVIS, the mean of all the individual allergen specific MRVIS. The semi quantitative Grades are assessed by MI scoring in relation to the Consensus Designated Response (CONDR). For this purpose Grades 0 and 1 are considered as NEGATIVE, and Grades 2 – 6 are considered positive.

PERSISTENT POOR PERFORMANCE:

Defined as being in the Poor Performance category for two or more successive distributions