Changes to the Assessment Process

24 January 2004

Dear Colleague

CPA (UK) Ltd
Changes to the Assessment Process, Fee Structures and the Level of Fees

I am writing to inform you of major changes to CPA that will take place from April 2005.

Since its inception in 1992 CPA has operated on the basis of four yearly laboratory assessment visits carried out by volunteer professional peer assessors. This has been financed by a combination of an annual enrolment fee and a charge for each assessment visit.

A combination of circumstances has necessitated a complete review of the present arrangements. The most important factors are:

The introduction by the Departments of Health of mandatory enrolment in an accreditation scheme.
The necessity of CPA employing a group of paid assessors to cope with the assessment workload.
The fact that CPA has made an operating loss for the last 2 years. This is the result of three main factors: reduced income following laboratory mergers, the costs of assessor re-training and increased assessor expenses.
The requirement in ISO 17011 to conduct a surveillance visit to each department every 2 years, in addition to the current 4 yearly assessment visits.

In the light of these developments the Board of CPA, with the full support of the shareholding bodies approved the following changes at its meeting on the 8th December 2004.

Assessors

A large part of the work of conducting assessments will in future be undertaken by some fifteen or so full time paid assessors employed by CPA. These individuals will not replace the current unpaid peer assessors, but will work in conjunction with them. In future therefore the professional assessors will have a less onerous, but none the less crucial, role in the assessment process.

The Assessment Process

In year one of the four-year cycle, for a one site, single discipline department a full on site assessment will be done with a paid assessor for two days and two professional peer assessors for one day each. In year three there will be an on site surveillance visit by a paid assessor for one day. In years two and four use will be made of the annual management reviews submitted by laboratories to CPA. Departments with more than one site, or an additional discipline, will need additional assessment time.

Financial Arrangements

Instead of separate payments for enrolment and assessment as paid at present, there will be one annual fee for each department. This will be paid each year on the enrolment date.
In order for this new system to operate efficiently it will be necessary to adjust the enrolment dates of a number of departments. This is to even out the assessment workload over the 4-year cycle. By the end of March 2005 you will receive confirmation of your future enrolment date.
The year 2005/2006 will be a start up year and the annual fee for each site requiring an assessment will be £1400. There will also be an additional fee of £300 for an extra discipline within a chargeable site.
The new arrangement will be fully operational in 2006/2007. From that time there will be a base fee for each site requiring assessment. Current prediction is that this annual fee will be approximately £2000. In addition there will be an extra charge where local circumstances require additional assessor time.

By making these changes we intend to ensure that CPA remains a viable Accreditation body.

The increased cost of accreditation has to be considered against the total budget of a Pathology Department and this advance notice will give you an opportunity to plan for the increased payments in the coming years.

Finally you may like to know that an approach for assistance, with at least some start-up funding, has been made to the Pathology Modernisation team in England, and we await a response.

Yours sincerely

Professor Sir Duncan Nichol Dr K W M Scott
Chairman Chief Executive