Within the UK there are two laboratory accreditation bodies, operating in complementary fields, the United Kingdom Accreditation Service [UKAS] and Clinical Pathology Accreditation (UK) Ltd [CPA].

UKAS and CPA have formed a partnership. The partnership enables the two organisations to co-operate on the development of accreditation policy and facilitates the exchange of best practice. Where appropriate the activities of the two organisations will be aligned thereby benefiting dual accredited organisations.  

The partnership is aimed at strengthening the authority and reputation of accreditation both in the UK and internationally by bringing together two organisations with established reputations in their respective fields.  It is also a means of reducing the risk of fragmenting accreditation and avoiding proliferation of accreditation standards for laboratories.

There is an increasing demand for accreditation across a wide range of services and an associated need for the accredited services to be accepted internationally. UKAS and CPA are working together to maximise the international recognition of accreditation.

UKAS is recognised by Government as the national accreditation body and is the signatory of international mutual recognition agreements on behalf of the UK. It is intended that the partnership will in due course be incorporated into these agreements.  

The partnership is the culmination of discussions, which started with a joint statement of intent in 1998 to co-operate in areas of mutual interest and benefit. It is the recently introduced international standards for laboratory accreditation [ISO 17025 & ISO 15189] however, that enables UKAS and CPA to capitalise on common criteria thereby making a partnership possible and desirable.

A Council has been set up to oversee the development of the partnership. Dr Bryan Smith, UKAS Chairman, chaired the inaugural meeting on 26^th February 2002; Sir Duncan Nichol, CPA Chairman, assumed the Chair in October 2002. 

The partnership will retain the individual corporate identities of UKAS and CPA and each partner will maintain respective control over professional [technical] decisions and standards. UKAS shall retain the Government’s sole recognition status as the National Accreditation Body.

The Council continues to meet regularly to discuss the development and activities of the partnership. A number of policies have been agreed to facilitate the partnership, including exchange of information, confidentiality, competition. Details of these and further information can be found on each organisation's website.  Click here for CPA

Application For Accreditation for Medical Laboratories.
Potential applicants should be aware that, for medical laboratory applications, there is currently a lead-in time for arranging assessments of six months following receipt of application.