The Network Participants have:
-Proposed quality specifications for measurement of lead in blood and aluminium in serum and will be applying these to a comparison of analytical performance by laboratories throughout the EU.
-Identified variations in the implementation of EU legislation and considered the implications of these on analytical quality specifications and the organisation of EQA schemes.
-Documented the repertoires and other management information of laboratories participating in the EQA schemes.
-Prepared an audit of the organisational and managerial practices within the EQA schemes to identify those areas of common practice and those where mutual recognition would be possible.
-Proposed a mechanism to facilitate harmonisation among schemes and to enable the establishment of new cross-national EQA activities.
-Developed a culture that is now able to embrace metrological concepts and is seeking to (i) similarly educate scheme participants (ii) apply these to the organisation of EQA schemes.
-Submitted one paper for publication, prepared two others that are almost ready for submission and presented one paper at a scientific conference.
Further exploitation activities are:
Publications:
The following papers are being prepared for publication in Clinical Chemistry. Comparison of procedures used to evaluate laboratory performance in external quality assessment schemes for lead in blood and aluminium in serum demonstrates the need for common quality specifications. Andrew Taylor, Jurgen Angerer, Francoise Claeys, Jesper Kristiansen, Olav Mazarrasa, Antonio Menditto, Marina Patriarca, Alain Pineau and Ilse Schoeters.
Additional papers are being prepared for publication.
Website:
A website giving contact information of the participants and the work being undertaken is being established.
Ongoing projects:
European-wide scoring system based on z-score and En numbers. A cross-scheme, European-wide comparison of laboratory performance using a scoring system based on the data derived from the work of the Network will be implemented in 2002-03.
Planned projects:
Additional projects have been planned and are ready for implementation as funding is secured.