JACIE Activity Report 2023

JACIE celebrated its 25^th Anniversary in 2023. Since 2003 JACIE has carried out 878 inspections in 32 countries. Of these, 48% have been initial inspections and 52% are re-accreditations. This has been only possible by the huge commitment and dedication by the Centres, Inspectors and all the Committee members supporting the process. 

 JACIE’s  goal – to harmonise and continually improve quality control standards in cellular therapy, initially across Europe, and now, beyond - remains as relevant as ever for all working in the field of Stem Cell transplantation and Cellular Therapies.

JACIE received 97 applications in 2023 which is approximately 30 % increase in comparison to 2022.  17% of the applications were for the initial accreditation with 6 centres (6%) applying for the 4^th re-accreditation. 

The number of inspections carried out by our inspectors increased to 77, which is the second highest number of inspections in JACIE history (2019: 78 inspections). This shows that JACIE has firmly returned to pre-pandemic activity and we are hugely grateful for all our inspectors, many of whom have carried out 2 or even 3 inspections in the course of the year. 

The number of centres accredited was 68 in comparison to 15 in 2022 and 27 in 2021. Huge thank you to the members of the Accreditation Committee who tirelessly reviewed the reports and for the Centres for the timely responses and for the inspectors for assessing the Evidence of Corrections submitted by the Centres. Achieving the JACIE Accreditation is nothing but teamwork.

The JACIE team continued the inspector training with the new format following the launch in November 2023. Three Inspector Training Courses took place in Barcelona, Paris and Istanbul with a total of 55 new inspectors trained. The Paris and Istanbul courses were run in collaboration with the National Transplant Societies and on behalf of JACIE we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to these Societies for their support and collaborations.

JACIE launched the JACIE Inspector Handbook at the Annual Meeting in April 2023. The Handbook is provided to all inspectors to support them in their role with advice on the processes whether on how to book the travel or claim expenses to challenging Standards and how to assess them. The Handbook was developed in collaboration with the JACIE Inspector Committee who worked with the JACIE team to ensure that the information was both relevant and up to date.

Inspector Committee members also developed a proposal for improved Inspector Incentives, which was submitted for approval by the EBMT Board. This proposal was based on the survey in July 2023 that was sent to all active inspectors. Further updates will be available in 2024. However, as one of the first steps, JACIE was able to offer 72 grants for JACIE Inspectors to attend the EBMT 50^th Annual Meeting in Glasgow 2024.

The Inspector Committee continued with the Webinar series for the Inspectors sharing best practice and updates on process and Standards.

Together with the QMC, JACIE created the JACIE Accreditation e-course for Centres, a new, online, easy access, accreditation preparation course which aims to help all staff working in centres feel more confident in preparing for and undergoing the JACIE Inspection. The modules present information in a variety of formats, including presentations from experienced JACIE Quality Management Committee members as well as JACIE Accreditation Coordinators. The key objectives of the course is to help the Centre staff to understand the application process, to improve the understanding of some of the challenging Standards and how to comply, and lastly, to reduce any stress/anxiety around the accreditation process by supporting the Centres throughout the process. 

This new e-course is available to both members and non-members of the EBMT and is free to access at any time.

FACT-JACIE Standards are reviewed every three years and the latest process for the 9^th Edition of Standards commenced in June 2023 with a Steering Committee ‘kick-off’ meeting in June. The Steering Committee manages the overall process as well as makes all strategic decisions on the Standards. 

Five sub-committees (Clinical, Collection, Processing, Quality Management, and IEC) commenced their work in September 2023 with the work coordinated by the FACT office. The work will continue in 2024 with the Steering Committee meeting planned for February 2024, public consultation for summer 2023 and finally publication of the 9^th edition in March 2025.