On 9-11 December 2015, the European Commission Initiative on Breast Cancer (ECIBC) Plenary Conference 2015 will include a poster session to share how breast cancer services are organised and accredited/ certified in Europe.
During the ECIBC Plenary Conference 2015 to take place near Milano Malpensa airport, a poster session will enable participating national accreditation bodies (NABs), which took part in the 2014 survey on accreditation and conformity assessment in the field of breast cancer in Europe (please read published results), to contextualise the current development process of the European Guidelines for Breast Cancer Screening and Diagnosis and, in particular, of the voluntary European Quality Assurance (QA) Scheme for breast cancer services coordinated by the EC Joint Research Centre (JRC).
Because they will play a major role in implementing the future European QA Scheme, NABs are invited to prepare and present a poster that illustrates their activities in the breast cancer care area or, if no activity is ongoing or planned, in the broader healthcare area in their country.
The contents of this poster could be based on the data provided for the 2014 survey, possibly updated. But they have also to enclose additional information not required in the survey to ideally indicate the following:
– Name, size and location of the NAB
– Is the NAB active in healthcare?
– Is the NAB active in breast cancer care? If yes, please describe the accreditation activities carried out for breast cancer services. Please distinguish between processes covered (referring to what is reported in the 2014 and/or updated data) in respect to screening, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship as well as management and transversal items.
– In addition, how many laboratories have been accredited so far under ISO 15189 and ISO/IEC 17025 carrying-out breast cancer-related analysis (e.g. histopathology, molecular biology, genetic testing, radiology/breast imaging)?
– How many certification bodies have been accredited so far for running schemes related to breast cancer (e.g. under ISO/IEC 17021 and/or ISO/IEC 17065)?
It is worth pointing out that the Quality Assurance Scheme Development Group, which has just met for the very first time, is still elaborating on the specificities of the QA scheme for breast cancer services. Since 2013, EA has been advocating however that the scheme accreditation should be based on ISO/IEC 17065 together with an important diagnostic work based on ISO 15189.
In addition to having the posters displayed for the whole duration of the meeting, there will be a guided poster tour on 10 December, at which each NAB will be asked to present its poster in a three-minute short presentation.
For further information including deadline, please contact Anke Bramesfeld, Donata Lerda, Massimo Ambrosio at: jrc-cancer-policy-support@ec.europa.eu