Designed to improve the quality of Point of Care Testing (POCT) in locations such as pharmacies, GP surgeries, hospital out patient departments, sports clinics, supermarkets, diagnostic/treatment and walk-in centres.
RIQAS Point of Care EQA provides independent evidence of the accuracy and reliability of test results.
Why RIQAS Point of Care?
Programme Offering
Tests
Role
Matrix
Lipids (Total Cholesterol & HDL Cholesterol)*
- Risk Factor for heart Disease
- Monitoring lipid lowering therapy
Whole Blood
HbA1c (Glycated Hemoglobin)*
- Diagnosing diabetes mellitus
- Monitoring treatment
- Encouraging self-management
Whole Blood
CRP (C Reactive Protein)*
- Early detection of infectious disease
- Identifying need for antibiotic treatment
Whole Blood
Glucose / Ketones
- Diagnose and monitor diabetes
- Monitor the presence of hypoglycemia (low blood glucose) and hyperglycemia (high blood glucose)
- To determine whether excessive ketones are present in the blood, to detect diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA)
Serum
International Normalised Ratio (INR)
- Used to measure the effect of anticoagulant drugs such as warfarin
- Help diagnose a bleeding disorder; to help estimate the severity of liver disease
Whole Blood
Key Cycle Dates
RQ9181 Distribution Month Sample Distributed Result Submission Deadline January 2024 8th January 17th January February 2024 5th February 14th February March 2024 4th March 13th March April 2024 2nd April 10th April May 2024 6th May 15th May June 2024 3rd June 12th June July 2024 1st July 10th July August 2024 5th August 14th August September 2024 2nd September 11th September October 2024 7th October 16th October November 2024 4th November 13th November December 2024 2nd December 11th December What Participants Say
What participants say
Our unrivalled commitment to quality and service ensures high levels of customer satisfaction, this is evident from the responses to our latest customer satisfaction survey:
“All in all a quick and efficient service”
“Good online system”
“Very helpful team”
“Excellent training”
“They are an experienced team”
“Very satisfied with the service that we receive”
“Very good value for money”
“The website is great”
The Importance of Quality Assurance
Importance of quality assurance
Quality assurance is an essential aspect of any clinical/diagnostic testing service and is aimed at ensuring the accuracy and reliability of patients’ results. The right result allows the right clinical advice to be offered in a timely manner. Quality assurance operates at two levels:Internal Quality Control
Internal Quality Control includes operator training/ competency assessment, analyser/ test system maintenance, and adherence to policies/ processes. Whilst some point of care analysers include inbuilt quality checks, cross-check analysis against samples with known levels provides immediate assurance and evidence that a patient’s result is safe to report.External Quality Assessment
External Quality Assessment involves analysis of samples with unknown levels that have been distributed by an external organisation. Participants are informed how their results compare with other participants, hence providing independent evidence of performance. Increasingly, participation in an external quality assessment scheme is becoming a mandatory requirement where health and healthcare services are being provided.
EQA provides assurance to both staff and customers that testing provides accurate and reliable results.
Want to know more?
Contact us or download the RIQAS Point of Care catalogue to learn more.
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