A question mainly aimed at UK colleagues, although I would be interested in
views from overseas.
There is a bit of a turf war between Biochem and Immunol labs over which
tests "belong" to which discipline. Immunoassay platforms are offering
tests which traditionally needed microscopy skills. Arguably, some of these
have little or nothing to do with clinical immunology, eg thyroid Abs,
coeliac Abs. However, CPA seems to take a (variable and subjective) view
that at a certain critical mass an immunology dept is born and the services
of a clinical immunologist are required for service direction and result
validation. Trouble is, outside of teaching hospitals there aren't many
around and I doubt it is a good use of their time, or Trusts' money, to
sign out certain numerical results. We haven't fallen foul of CPA over this
yet since different tests, for historical reasons, are spread across 4
disciplines. I would prefer to centralise them to improve quality, but am
aware that this would create an immunology dept and CPA's Eye of Sauron
would spot it. Is there additional training and/or certification in
laboratory "immunology" for clinical biochemists (medics or scientists)
which would be acceptable to RCPath and CPA, and if not shouldn't we be
pushing for it?
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