In the immediate aftermath of the NHS 10-Year Plan’s release, BIVDA held a webinar reaching 114 attendees from our membership, government and the NHS, featuring BIVDA Ambassador and former Health Minister Maggie Throup, President of Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath) Dr Bernie Croal, and BIVDA’s Chief Executive Helen Dent and Head of Policy and Programmes Paul Fisher. The aim of the webinar was to analyse how the plan would influence future delivery of diagnostic services in the NHS.
Maggie, no stranger to delivering health plans of her own, called the plan ‘high-level and aspirational’ and noted that the omission of a delivery plan could scupper its ambitions. Dr Croal lauded the key thrusts of the plan — bringing care closer to patients’ homes and making the NHS more tech-enabled — but also expressed reservations about the lack of delivery plan and extra funding.
He predicted that, while point-of-care testing will be expanded, due to its cost the real growth area for diagnostics enabled by this plan will be community sampling for laboratories.
We would like to thank both Maggie and Bernie for their contributions — a recording of the event can be found here.
This event is one of a series of activities offered to BIVDA members, providing valuable insights into the latest UK health policy and practical guidance on navigating the NHS.
