To all Members and website account holders
Over the next few weeks, we will be tidying up the membership database so that we can start 2011 with an accurate record of who has renewed and recently joined. As an important part of this process, we need everyone to log on to the 'My Account' page of the website and check / amend their details, especially their primary email address.
Those who were AQMLM members in the 2009-2010 membership year and have not yet renewed for 2010-2011, but intend to do so, should attend to this as soon as possible, as all non-renewed accounts will be deleted at the end of January 2011.
Group leaders of regional groups should check with their members who have not yet renewed, as we are aware that several groups are currently below the minimum number (6) for qualification for the 10% discount. This is particularly important as we intend to invite Groups with at least six members to send a representative to attend Directors' meetings and help with the governance of AQMLM and the planning of activities.
In February 2011, the presentations from the 2010 Symposium on "Best Practice in the Clinical Laboratory" will be available for download. These will be free of charge for fully paid up members and those non-members who attended the Symposium, but will cost £15 each or £75 for the whole set for non-members who did not attend.
Please find here the final response of the UK Competent Authority to the European Commission public consultation on the revision of the IVD Directive. We are very grateful to all those who responded to our discussion paper and sent information to us on this, which was incorporated into our submission. The Commission has indicated that they received in the region of 175-200 replies to the consultation. It is hoped that a summary and analysis of the responses will be published on the Commission shortly and we shall circulate the link to this as soon as it is available.
It is also likely that we will have a seat on the ISO Technical Committee (TC212) that oversees, amongst others, ISO 15189. This will be a major boost to our international profile, for which I am most grateful to David Burnett for his assistance on our behalf.
We are focussing our activities for 2011 on the topic of "Quality Indicators", and to this end, our President, David Burnett, has formed a Working Group from amongst members who attended the Symposium. This is an important topic which will be exercising the minds of many Quality Managers and Leads as departments work hard to meet the demands of the dramatic changes planned for the NHS.
We still need your input on the activities and topics that interest you and will help you in your work. Please use the contact form and discussion forums to suggest ideas, so that we may plan our activities for 2011.
Finally, all of us at AQMLM would like to wish all of you a very happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year!
Jonathan Middle and all the AQMLM team