Ben Kemp

The COVID-19 testing policy for air travel has been updated to allow for fully vaccinated passengers and most under-18s to utilise lateral flow tests on or before day 2 of arriving in England. The policy change took effect from October 24 and is an effort to make testing easier and more affordable to passengers. The tests must be purchased from…

Health and Care Secretary Sajid Javid has announced an extra £5.9 billion to be provided to the NHS in order for it to tackle care waiting lists. The funding was announced as part of the Budget 2021 plans, and is intended to support the service with unprecedented numbers of patients waiting for screening, care and treatment. More than five million…

The National Audit Office has published its report into supply chain finance in the NHS, following the failure of Greenshill Capital in March 2021. The National Audit Office (NAO) scrutinises public spending for Parliament and is independent of government and the civil service. It helps Parliament hold government to account and it uses its insights to help people who manage…

BIVDA responds to Wednesday's Budget announcements, outlined in the House of Commons by Chancellor Rishi Sunak. This Budget comes at a crucial moment regarding protecting the UK’s health service through the winter as it tackles backlogs and readies itself for future public health threats. The Government must recognise the role of both the home-grown diagnostics industry from SME’s and larger…

This conference will examine priorities for tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the UK, including progress on the UK’s five-year action plan, the impact of COVID-19 on global health systems, and the potential for harnessing new networks and opportunities for collaboration to drive forward progress. The event takes place on Wednesday 1 December from 9am - 1pm (registration from 8.30am). Please…

The Defence Healthcare Delivery Optimisation (DHDO) Digital Programme is a multi-million-pound (CAT C) programme and forms part of the UK Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) Medical Information Services’ (MedIS) portfolio. DHDO is looking to procure a wide range of primary healthcare digital products and services from multiple healthcare product/service suppliers that will increase options for types of clinical encounters, empower patients by…

Yesterday’s “in-Person” Mid-Year General Meeting was a fantastic event, we have had some great feedback and it was refreshing to see people face to face. It was a smaller affair than previous meetings, but as we take tentative steps, it is understandable and acceptable to be flexible as we emerge from the pandemic, it was more intimate than usual and…

MHRA Consultation – https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-the-future-regulation-of-medical-devices-in-the-united-kingdom  This remains open until 25 November and is a huge document with nearly 500 questions – not all will be relevant to IVDs but we need as many companies to respond as possible. You do not have to complete all the questions and even if you just respond to a few then this will increase the…