The Spanish Association of Medical Biopathology – Laboratory Medicine (Asociación Española de Biopatología Médica – Medicina de Laboratorio, AEBM-ML) has awarded ENAC with the Aparicio Garrido Award 2021. Beatriz Rivera and Isabel de la Villa, General Manager and Head of ENAC's Healthcare Department respectively, received the award from Dr. Santiago Prieto and Dr. María Pacheco, president and vice president of AEBM.

For ENAC's General Manager, "we are deeply moved that an organization like AEBM-ML has granted us this award, that the laboratories recognize the added value that ENAC accreditation brings to their work and ultimately to the safety of their patients”.

In the same vein and in the words of Dr. Santiago Prieto - "The award to a body that improves patient care is fully aligned with the philosophy of the association. The advantage of ENAC's accreditation is not so much the seal but all the learning acquired during the audit, enabling you to do even better what you did well, and guaranteeing that you are not making mistakes. After the accreditation process, the laboratory is better”.

In the words of Beatriz Rivera, guaranteeing quality and safety in diagnostic services is "fundamental for providing health services demanded by society". She also adds that "it is essential to be able to provide the necessary level of confidence to patients, prescribers and managers of health and social-health services in which the services carried out by clinical laboratories have been assessed impartially, independently and competently in accordance with the international UNE-EN ISO 15189 standard".

The international UNE-EN ISO 15189 standard encompasses all the laboratory's key processes (pre-analytical, analytical, and post-analytical), as well as the laboratory's entire management system structure and resources: personnel, equipment, and procedures. In addition, in the words of Isabel de la Villa, Head of ENAC's Health Department, "it gives great importance to the consulting role of the laboratory in terms of collaboration with clinicians all together, to be able to provide reliable health care that benefits the patient".

 

Joint commitment for patient benefit

ENAC and AEBM-ML have been collaborating for many years and already in 2014 they signed a collaboration agreement that promotes and eases cooperation both in aspects of training and exchange of technical information.

“From the independent relationship, of respect and professionalism, between AEBM-ML and ENAC, we enrich both the professionals of the sector, with the information provided by ENAC, and ENAC itself, which collects our suggestions and applies them in practice, "says Dr. Santiago Prieto.

“For ENAC", says Beatriz Rivera, "collaborating with professionals in the health sector through scientific reference societies such as AEBM-ML enables us to value accreditation of diagnostic services in all health areas. The continuing collaboration with scientific societies helps us to guarantee the maximum technical competence of clinical laboratories, essential for minimizing risks to favour patient safety and to increase the diagnostic quality of health services".

With this award, AEBM-ML has published a video, which you can see below: