Staying Ahead in the Evolution of Immunology Service Delivery

Dr. Elizabeth (Liz) Walker, is a Consultant Clinical Scientist in Immunology with over twenty years' experience of working in research and the NHS. She was recently appointed as Consultant Clinical Scientist and Clinical Lead in the Immunology department at East and South East London Pathology Partnership (Barts Health NHS Trust), based at the Royal London Hospital, where she has worked since starting her Clinical Scientist training in 2004. She holds a Doctorate in Clinical Science from the University of Manchester and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists. She is an STP Training officer and is passionate about developing the next generations of Clinical Scientists in the field. 

Faye Sims is an experienced healthcare professional currently serving as the Operational Manager for Clinical Biochemistry and Immunology at North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust. She has held this position since January 2022, accumulating nearly 3 years of experience in this role. 

As an Operational Manager, Faye oversees the Clinical Biochemistry and Immunology Department at Peterborough City Hospital. Her responsibilities likely include managing the department's operations, staff, and resources to ensure efficient and high-quality diagnostic services.

Faye Sims' role is crucial in the operation of the Clinical Biochemistry and Immunology services at North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, contributing to patient care and diagnostic accuracy in the region.

Daniel Payne works as a Consultant Clinical Scientist in Immunology at the South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

The South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provide a comprehensive range of tests for the immunological investigation of patients and aim to provide the highest quality of service with prompt delivery of accurate results, backed by specialist medical and scientific expertise.

With nearly 25 years of experience at UK NEQAS, Carol Stanley began her career as a medical laboratory assistant. She later qualified as a Biomedical Scientist and earned the IBMS Specialist Diploma in Clinical Immunology. Carol has steadily advanced through the ranks and is now the Centre Manager of UK NEQAS for Immunology, Immunochemistry & Allergy (IIA). In her current role, Carol is responsible for the management of all aspects of daily operations and contributes to the strategic development of the External Quality Assessment (EQA) service.

Alyson Bryant took a degree in Biomedical Science at Sheffield University and then fell into a role as a trainee biomedical scientist in her local NHS lab after she graduated. This set Alyson on the path of working in NHS laboratories for 15 years, first in Sheffield and then in Swindon, Wiltshire. Alyson worked her way up to become a cellular pathology laboratory manager, with a particular interest in quality management to make sure that the highest standards for patients was maintained. 

Alyson is now an Accreditation Specialist with a background in biomedical science. Alyson's role for UKAS ranges from training and supporting the Healthcare Assessment Managers and technical assessors through to stakeholder engagement with key organisations such as the Institute of Biomedical Science and Royal College of Pathologists, as well as participating in ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) and EA (European Accreditation) Healthcare Committees. A major project since Alyson started the role in 2021 has been working on the transition of the ISO 15189:22 standard.

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Bethan Dancey is an experienced HCPC registered scientist, specialising in Immunology. She has in-depth technical and clinical knowledge, along with practical experience in the areas of immunochemistry, allergy, autoimmunity and flow cytometry; including diagnosis and monitoring of haematological malignancies. 

Her current role is NHS clinical scientist and this carries a wide range of responsibilities from using her specialist knowledge performing assays, authorising clinical reports and liaising with clinical and laboratory staff to oversee specific areas of immunochemistry specialist testing. This also involves researching, assessing and implementing new assays and quality improvements to general laboratory, management of staff and resources, training and quality management. 

Bethan has a particular interest in quality improvement, both in her prior role UKAS and in her role as a clinical scientist where she has managed EQA submission and monitoring including set-up of sample exchange schemes and the validation/ verification of assays across immunology. She has a thorough understanding of the benefit and challenges UKAS ISO 15189 assessments can bring to the medical laboratory environment, having been in a senior post for the first post-CPA UKAS inspection in the immunology laboratory and first surveillance visit. In her role as an assessment manager her knowledge in this area increased as she has assessed a number of different laboratory types from small private labs to large multi-site NHS labs across a range of disciplines and quality management systems. Bethan is also currently working as a technical assessor for UKAS, focusing on Immunology and flow cytometry.