Lyme testing and accreditation of labs UK

[justy]

Caudwell Lyme charity has received answers from Public Health England (PHE) after a Freedom of Information Request (FOI). Their answer on accreditation and acceptability of labs/tests is very enlightening, especially in relation to certain ongoing discussions re the validity of so called 'alternative' labs and tests.

This is from Veronica Mai Hughes, CEO of the Caudwell Lyme charity:

***CAUDWELL LYMECO NEWS!***
Public Health England has answered our first Freedom of Information request.
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/…/551%20FOI%20Lyme%20testing…
PHE say that they approve of any foreign test from a foreign accredited lab (even though RIPL (Rare Imported Pathogens Laboratory, Porton down and Colindale) itself doesn't actually have ISO accreditation yet) using a commercially produced test approved by EMA in Europe or the FDA in America.

This means BCA Labs gets their thumbs up, Armin labs will imminently as his accreditation is going through, but Igenex may take longer - currently they cannot apply for FDA approval because they do not sell their test to other labs but only use it themselves. However they are in the process of working with the FDA on its new policy.

However, the most important take-home message on the response was that RIPL IS NOT PART OF THE NHS and this means that their purpose is actually public health data gathering, not patient diagnosis.
Given this, there is actually NO NHS LAB which diagnoses Lyme disease and therefore your GP has no regulatory grounds for suggesting you use one lab in preference to another.