Reminder about the duty to notify SVHCs in articles There are substances in articles notification (SIAN) duties under Article 7(2) for substances identified on the UK REACH Candidate List as substances of very high concern (SVHC). These specify that any producer or importer of articles shall notify HSE with specific information when both the following conditions are met: the SVHC…
Ben KempMay 22, 2025
Hancock ignored call to test all NHS staff, Covid inquiry hears The government ignored an early warning by two Nobel prize-winning scientists that all healthcare workers should be routinely tested for coronavirus in the pandemic, the Covid inquiry has heard. The advice came in a strongly-worded letter sent in April 2020 by the chief executive of the Francis Crick…
Ben KempMay 20, 2025
The Public Accounts Committee, a cross-party group of MPs, has given their verdict on the Department of Health and Social Care's accounts and annual report for 2023/24. The committee stressed that, given the health system faces significant financial pressures on numerous fronts, strong financial management, decision–making, and efficiency improvements are essential for the NHS’s long–term sustainability. Concerns were raised that…
Ben KempMay 20, 2025
The Government has provided an answer to Steve Race MP's written question which raised BIVDA's recent policy declaration on community diagnostics and asked the Government's opinion of the merits of appointing a National Diagnostics Director. Mr Race wrote the foreword for our policy declaration and attended our parliamentary drop-in in April. The Government's answer, in full, is as follows: The…
Ben KempMay 20, 2025
All new patients registering at GP practices are to be asked if they had a blood transfusion before 1996, as part of an NHS drive to find undiagnosed patients affected by the contaminated blood scandal. Each year, around 400,000 people born before 1996 – around half of new sign-ups online – will now be asked if they received a historic…
Ben KempMay 20, 2025