ENAC and the Spanish Society of Laboratory Medicine (SEMEDLAB) have signed a collaboration agreement to strengthen technical cooperation between the two institutions. This is for the accreditation system to always be aligned with best practices in the field and to reinforce their role in the clinical laboratory area, raising the technical level and recognition of laboratories both nationally and internationally.

This agreement continues ENAC’s collaboration maintained over the years with the three leading clinical laboratory scientific societies in Spain — AEBM-ML, AEFA, and SEQCML — integrated into SEMEDLAB since 2024, a society created to bring together laboratory medicine professionals and to promote the joint development of scientific and technical activities in this field.

The agreement includes collaborating in promotional and outreach activities that help highlight accreditation’s importance in the healthcare system, as well as jointly organizing conferences, seminars, and other initiatives to improve the technical level and efficiency of conformity assessment activities in this sector.

It also develops training activities regarding accreditation, especially related to the UNE-EN ISO 15189 standard, aimed at clinical laboratories. Therefore, ENAC will make it easier to access the courses on its Campus for SEMEDLAB professionals, promoting accreditation knowledge among laboratory medicine specialists.

The agreement also includes SEMEDLAB's collaboration in identifying technical experts in the laboratory medicine field, who can take part in ENAC's assessment processes, to help ensure accredited laboratories’ technical competence.

SEMEDLAB aims to bring together laboratory medicine professionals in Spain to promote the exchange of scientific knowledge, and encourage training and development in this field, and contribute to clinical laboratory services continuously improving.

For Beatriz Rivera, ENAC’s General Director, this agreement strengthens the commitment of both organizations to quality and trust in results in the healthcare field, aspects where the patient is the main beneficiary:

“Collaboration with SEMEDLAB strengthens the link between accreditation and clinical practice, boosting laboratories’ technical competence and moving forward with a common goal: improving the quality and safety of clinical laboratory services by making it easier for clinical decisions to be based on reliable and technically valid results. A system that brings trust to both professionals and patients.”.

Pastora Rodríguez Vázquez, president of SEMEDLAB, highlighted that the agreement signed with ENAC strengthens the relationship that both bodies have maintained for so many years, with a focus on safety and technical excellence: 

“At SEMEDLAB, we raise awareness and promote clinical laboratory accreditation as a guarantee of quality and competence. ENAC accreditation represents a recognition of clinical laboratories’ value in healthcare.

After signing the agreement, we are focused on tackling joint and future projects, both educational and collaborative, that will enable us to keep expanding the quality culture and promoting the growth of clinical laboratory professionals in areas related to the audit process, standardization, and patient safety. ENAC accreditation represents the standard of technical excellence we aspire to as professionals”.