This course provides participants with an overview of the management of laboratory services across the public and private sector. The course will build on participants’ current workplace experience and assist them in considering the competitive, financial and policy pressures that have led to the need for senior staff working in laboratories to acquire a range of management skills. It will include an overview of internal and external factors influencing broader health services as well as the management of laboratories; consider current theories, models and approaches to the management of organisations, teams and individuals in healthcare and in laboratories; help participants reflect on the role of the health services manager within the laboratory setting; and to consider the impetus for strategic management within the context of laboratory services, including change management. In the last part of the course, participants will consider key quality and safety improvement mechanisms, including accreditation requirements as prescribed by the ISO 15189 guidelines, process innovation and inter-professional teamwork.