In the spring of 2017, IPEM, NHS England and the UK Accreditation Service (UKAS) released a joint statement regarding the Improving Clinical Engineering and Physical Science Services (iCEPSS) initiative. UKAS then released a call for potential pilot sites and specialisms. This is a long-awaited step forward for a project that started in 2013.

The decision to base the accreditation on BS70000 provides a route to wider standardization of the accreditation of healthcare science services.

In the summer of 2017 a webinar was held to launch what is now to be known as the Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering (MPACE) accreditation programme.

There are a number of documents and links to view in relation to MPACE:

• The joint statement from IPEM, NHS England and UKAS.
• UKAS call for potential pilot sites and specialisms.
• Detailed explanation of the development process and rationale for BS70000.
• A question and answer document from the MPACE webinar held in August 2017, and you can view the webinar itself here.
• Nuclear medicine: A call for expressions of interest. 

The latest update on MPACE (February 2019) is available here.

Dr Peter Jarritt, former IPEM President, is chair of the UKAS MPACE Technical Advisory Committee.