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Quality Assurance
 | Quality Assurance1. IntroductionPlease note that as with the other cross-programme work carried out by the UK National Screening Committee, Quality Assurance (QA) covers the English Screening Programmes. Since the QA team came into post in February 2010 a number of National QA Development Workshops have taken place across England. The aim of the workshops was to ensure that local service commissioners and providers, programme centers, SHA leads and regional teams were engaged in, and given, the opportunity to influence the development of the new QA process. As a result of the workshops a number of potential QA models have been identified and 4 of these models will be piloted over the coming months. Each of the pilots will be independently evaluated to assess if they are fit for purpose, add value and are cost effective. As a result of the evaluation it is expected that our definitive QA model will emerge. We are grateful to all those who took part in the workshops and especially to the volunteers who have agreed to pilot the models. Work is ongoing to develop the supporting materials required and it is hoped that the first pilot will take place in May 2011 with others following on over the course of the year. Working alongside colleagues in the relevant programmes and at national and regional level, the QA team has also been involved in the development of:
In addition, the team is currently finalising an overarching framework for the screening elements of relevant laboratory work. Regular updates will appear on this page in due course. Further information is available on the English Screening Programmes 2. Service FrameworksWe are pleased to announce that the commissioning frameworks for antenatal and newborn screening programmes are now ready for use across England and can be downloaded below. This follows extended consultation with relevant stakeholders and recommendation for use in the English NHS from the UK NSC. The frameworks have been updated with some minor adjustments (October 2011) to reflect new standards and recently issued programme specific guidance. These frameworks had previously been updated to reflect the publication of the Serious Incidents guidance and should be used in preference. If you ned the frameworks in Word format, please contact Andrianna Davis in the QA team. 3. Managing Serious Incidents in National Screening ProgrammesFollowing extensive consultation, the UK NSC's guidance on managing serious incidents in the non-cancer screening programmes is now available and can be downloaded below. This guidance, as part of the National Framework for Reporting and Learning from Serious Incidents requiring investigation, which was published by the National Patient Safety Agency in March 2010, is intended to build on and align existing policies at local, regional and national level. The related SI Toolkit was launched on 20 January 2012, which explains in more detail how to apply the principles of incident management to individual serious incidents in the context of the English national screening programmes. It also contains a number of documents and templates to assist with managing SIs, as well as a advice on handling communications issues. 4. Key Performance IndicatorsA catalogue of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) has been produced covering each of the non-cancer screening programmes led by the UK National Screening Committee Director of Programmes. They are available on the KPI page. 5. FailsafesFailsafe is a back-up mechanism, in addition to usual care, which ensures if something goes wrong in the screening pathway, processes are in place to (i) identify what is going wrong and (ii) what action follows to ensure a safe outcome. The non cancer screening programmes have now published their failsafe processes, based on the new Map of Medicine care pathway, on the Quality Assurance/Improvement sections of their respective websites:-
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