The Nordic Baltic forum for plant health diagnostic laboratories and its use of ‘on‐site’ proficiency testing to improve laboratory testing1

During an Estonia-UK-Denmark twinning project, a new forum for Plant Health Diagnostic Laboratories in the Nordic-Baltic region emerged. At the first meeting held in Estonia in July 2006, a new approach to proficiency testing was evaluated. Proficiency tests are key elements assessing the ability of a laboratory to perform a certain test in comparison with other laboratories. ‘On-site’ proficiency testing means that experts are meeting to look at exactly the same samples under the same conditions on the same day. This is especially relevant for tests based on morphological interpretation as this minimizes the inherent differences in samples due to natural variation within a given species. The benefits of ‘on-site’ proficiency testing outweigh the additional costs of organising a regional meeting which might include discussion of related scientific topics. Diagnostic capacity is an essential part of European Plant Health policies but staff may be spread out in different laboratories and countries. ‘On-site’ proficiency testing helps create a stronger group identity for diagnosticians as well as maintaining quality control. In the plant health field there are also several difficulties in organising conventional proficiency tests. This is further discussed in the paper.