BIVDA were joined yesterday in Parliament by key stakeholders and members of the diagnostic industry to launch our call to deliver community diagnostics.
Attended by more than twenty MPs and peers, including the Chair of the Pharmacy APPG, Steve Race MP, and Chair of the AMR APPG, Danny Chambers MP, the coalition set out the value of community diagnostics and why a ‘neighbourhood NHS’ must be at the heart of the upcoming 10-year plan if we are to tackle health challenges such as the looming AMR crisis.
Our policy declaration calls for the Government to:
– Appoint a dedicated national Director for Diagnostics, responsible for the strategic direction and delivery of diagnostics policy
– Invest in the Pharmacy First programme to support the adoption of rapid point of care tests and expand the scheme to include respiratory infections
– Design a health system to provide care all year round, integrating winter planning and community diagnostics into a true neighbourhood NHS
– Support the expanded adoption of diagnostics to aid clinical decision making, including adopting the O’Neill Review’s recommendation that all antibiotic prescriptions are supported by a diagnostic test.
The launch of our policy declaration marks the jumping off point for our continued advocacy. With community diagnostics aligning with all of the Government’s three NHS shifts, we will strongly push for the community diagnostics to be recognised in the Ten-Year Plan and beyond.
Delivering convenient, accessible care closer to home—while easing winter pressures and combating antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through rapid community testing—provides immense value to both patients and the health service. These priorities must be central to a modern, more agile NHS.
BIVDA CEO Helen Dent said “Now is the time to ensure a future-fit NHS that embeds antimicrobial stewardship within the day to day operations of community and primary services.
“Our coalition of leading diagnostic manufacturers and partners call on the government to take decisive action to tackle one of the greatest health care threats we currently face.”
You can read our policy declaration here.
