Media Monitoring: 8th April – 14th April

A blog from BIVDA members CPI examining how to foster growth in digital health now and in the future – a terrific read for BIVDA members!
‘Without a doubt, the UK has the potential to become a world leader in the high-growth IVD industry.’

The Monthly Diagnostics data for February 2023 can be found here.

The total number of patients waiting six weeks or more from referral for one of the 15 key diagnostic tests at the end of February 2023 was 402,100. This was 25.1% of the total number of patients waiting at the end of the month.
Nationally, the operational standard of less than 1% of patients waiting six weeks or more was not met this month.
Compared with February 2022 the total number of patients waiting six weeks or more increased by 40,100 while the proportion of patients waiting six weeks or more increased by 1.1 percentage points.
In the last 12 months, the proportion of patients waiting six weeks or more at the end of a month has varied between 24.8% (March 2022) and 31.3% (December 2022).
The estimated average time that a patient had been waiting for a diagnostic test was 3.0 weeks at the end of February 2023.
There were 1,601,500 patients waiting for a key diagnostic test at the end of February 2023. This is an increase of 94,000 from February 2022.
A total of 2,060,900 diagnostic tests were undertaken in February 2023. This is an increase of 199,300 from February 2022.

A new blood test which examines sugar levels in the blood could provide early diagnoses for prostate cancer in patients without symptoms.
The project, led by University of Swansea researchers, are hoping to discover whether detecting certain sugars in the bloodstream can determine the risk of prostate cancer developing and whether it will spread.
Prostate cancer becomes incurable when it spreads from the source.

In a series of paper, Cancer Research UK-funder researchers have said they are close to discovering whether cancers will spread based on blood tests.
This is done by examining changes in the DNA of cancer cells which allows them to predict how they will react in future.
Lung cancer was the main focus of the study, however scientists are confident that the research can be applied to other cancers.

Boots will be piloting a private diabetes screening service from May at seven stores across Manchester, London and Birmingham, which are cities with a higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes.
The company also wants improved data sharing of patient records as currently community pharmacies do not have full read and write access to NHS patient records.
Boots’ CEO claims that improved data sharing measures could help bring earlier diagnoses to the nearly million people estimated to have undiagnosed type 2 diabetes, who can then seek help sooner.

A study supported by NIHCR and DHSC has helped thousands of people to receive diagnoses for their severe developmental disorders.
The Deciphering Developmental Disorders study, which encompassed over 13,000 families from the UK and Ireland, each had a severe developmental disorder which had hitherto been undiagnosed.
Through gene sequencing, the researchers also discovered 60 new conditions and genetic diagnoses for more than 5,500 children.

They will offer their own-brand tests, developed in partnership with The London Medical Laboratory,
The tests can be registered with their app and a finger-prick blood sample can be sent to the aforementioned lab for testing.
Results are promised within 48 hours