WHO’s Stepwise Laboratory Quality Improvement Process Towards Accreditation (SLIPTA) Checklist


December 22, 2023

The SLIPTA Checklist V3, published by the World Health Organization (WHO), specifies requirements for quality and competency, aimed to develop and improve medical laboratory services to raise laboratory quality to established national and/or international standards. The elements of this checklist are based on ISO standard 15189:2022 (E) and, to a lesser extent, the Clinical & Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guideline QMS01-A4, Laboratory Management System: A Model for Laboratory Services; Approved Guideline – Fourth Edition. The SLIPTA checklist promotes the adoption of a process-approach when developing, implementing and improving the effectiveness of a management system, with the objective of meeting customer expectations and providing laboratory testing services.

The intended purpose of the SLIPTA Checklist is to evaluate and verify the establishment, implementation and improvement of the quality management systems in medical and publics health laboratories. The SLIPTA Guideline and Checklist are intended for use by policymakers, ministries of health, government and management officials, public health and medical professionals;, laboratory technicians, clinicians, technical experts, laboratory and programme managers, and international, regional and local partners. This checklist should be completed by a trained and certified SLIPTA Auditor, and is for recognition purposes based on the SLIPTA star levels. Laboratories will receive a 0-5 star level rating to certify that the audited laboratory is undergoing the quality improvement process to meet all the requirements of the standard.

This Laboratory audit checklist consists of three parts: Part I: Laboratory Profile; Part II: Laboratory Audits which focusses on Evaluation of Laboratory operating procedures, practices, and tables for reporting performance; Part III: Summary of Audit Findings which give a summary of findings of the SLIPTA audit and action planning worksheet.

The checklist consists of 12 sections which corresponds to the 12 Quality System Essentials covered in the SLIPTA Guidelines posted here, and can be used:

  • to determine if a laboratory is providing accurate and reliable test results on a timely basis
  • to determine if it is well-managed and adhering to good laboratory practices
  • to identify areas for improvement
  • as an input to generate laboratory-specific plans.

French and Portuguese versions of the checklist will be available shortly.