COVID-19 • 2 mins read
2 mins read
Related topics
UKAS is the National Accreditation Body for the United Kingdom. UKAS is appointed by government, to assess and accredit organisations that provide services including certification, testing, inspection and calibration.
From the beginning of the pandemic, UKAS has been working with government to provide advice on quality assurance and accreditation of laboratories performing COVID-19 testing including laboratories that have been supporting the national testing provision (NHS Test and Trace) and also private testing providers.
Since November 2020 UKAS has been working with the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) to develop a three stage UKAS accreditation process for private providers of COVID-19 testing. Under the scheme, organisations that take swab samples and/or test them are required to demonstrate their ability to meet the required standard by progressing through each stage – application, appraisal and accreditation – with increasing levels of assessment by UKAS. Only after successfully completing the third stage is the organisation accredited by UKAS. To date, UKAS has received over 500 applications/extensions to scope requests for COVID-19 testing/sampling and has accredited 245 public and private sector laboratories/sample-takers.
Neither Immensa Health Clinic Ltd nor its related company Dante Labs Ltd has been accredited by UKAS. The details of UKAS accredited organisations are published on the UKAS website at https://www.ukas.com/find-an-organisation/ A list of private providers that have self-declared as meeting the minimum requirements for private providers of COVID-19 testing can be found on the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/list-of-private-providers-of-coronavirus-testing. Providers on this list that conduct sampling and/or testing activities are required to apply for UKAS accreditation and progress through the stages to gain accreditation as per the DHSC requirements.