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Found 212 results
  1. News Article
    A new study has revealed that families of some cancer patients are being denied the opportunity to learn about their potential cancer risk due to inconsistencies in genetic testing. Academics have warned that the absence of adequate testing for Lynch syndrome is leaving some cancer patients unaware of their risk of developing other cancers. Lynch syndrome, a rare hereditary condition, elevates the risk of cancers of the bowel, womb, and ovaries. It arises from a gene mutation affecting DNA error correction during replication, potentially leading to uncontrolled cell growth. NHS guidelines stipulate that patients with bowel or womb cancer should undergo tumour assessments for Lynch syndrome markers. The identification of these markers should prompt a referral for genetic testing, confirming the diagnosis and enabling access to support and guidance regarding cancer risks for both the patients and their families. However, a new study by academics at the University of Edinburgh found not all womb cancer patients are being sent for genetic testing. Researchers said those who were referred faced long waits, resulting in high dropout rates, meaning only 48 per cent of those eligible went on to get the test. Experts from the university said gaps in testing mean some womb cancer patients with Lynch syndrome go undetected. Read full story Source: The Independent, 10 June 2025
  2. News Article
    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 Institute, Sir Paul Nurse, and its research director, Sir Peter Ratcliffe, to the then health secretary Matt Hancock. NHS and care home staff were not offered Covid tests until November 2020 in England, unless they had symptoms of the disease. Matt Hancock is due to appear at the inquiry next week, along with other health ministers from the four nations of the UK. Giving evidence, Sir Paul, who won the Nobel prize for medicine in 2001, said it was "disturbing" that he did not receive a response to his concerns until July 2020. "For the secretary of state to ignore a letter from two Nobel laureates in physiology or medicine for three months is a little surprising, I would say," he told the inquiry. "Rather than acknowledge they couldn't do it, because that would have indicated a mistake in their overall strategy, they remained silent." It was likely that the decision not to routinely test NHS and care home staff led to an increase in infections and deaths in the early stages of the pandemic, he added. Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 May 2025 Further reading on the hub: "Forgotten heroes" – the sequel: a blog and resources from David Osborn The pandemic – questions around Government governance: a blog from David Osborn
  3. News Article
    An NHS provider that won a £2bn contract to deliver blood-testing services for hospitals and GPs is failing to deliver reliable results, according to medical professionals. Synnovis, a public-private partnership between the medical company Synlab and Guy's and St Thomas' and King's College hospital foundation trusts, secured the contract in 2021 to deliver pathology services for just under 200 GP surgeries across south-east London. The BBC has spoken to GPs who say incorrect and delayed blood results are a "regular concern" and that the firm's performance is causing great distress to patients. The company, which fell victim to a ransomware cyberattack in June 2024 that caused more than 1,000 NHS operations to be postponed, said the attack had "significantly reduced our capacity to process samples". Synnovis, which serves six hospitals in London, added that it had "dedicated every available resource to delivering clinically safe and largely manual interim solutions". According to more than a dozen GPs we heard from, across all of south-east London's boroughs, the severity of challenges they face under Synnovis is causing anxiety for both patients and doctors. The GPs told the BBC that the blood-test issues were leading to unnecessary hospital referrals and wasted patient appointments. In one case the BBC was told about, an elderly man who was caring for his wife with dementia needlessly spent hours in accident and emergency (A&E) due to problems with his test. One GP, who spoke to the BBC anonymously, said: "It would [previously] never cross our minds that a blood test might not be reliable. This is now an everyday concern. "The current problems with Synnovis is nothing short of a national scandal," they added. Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 April 2025
  4. News Article
    Recently-opened cancer testing centres and virtual wards will be among the services cut back as the NHS seeks to eliminate a £6.6bn forecast deficit, senior leaders have told HSJ. Plans also include restricting treatments, extending waiting times, de-funding the third sector, and significant job cuts for clinicians as well as managers. HSJ asked NHS trust and commissioner CEOs and finance directors across the country what actions would be required in their organisation, after NHSE last week demanded they “get a grip” of deficits and “accelerate” decisions. Cost-cutting measures being proposed or considered locally include: Closing community diagnostic centres (CDCs), and cancelling plans for more CDCs. Closing or reducing the size of virtual wards, whose expansion since Covid-19 has been repeatedly declared as one of the most significant reforms to shift care out of hospital. Cuts to schemes to carry out more elective work, including reducing out-of-hours “waiting list initiative” sessions and cancelling planned “elective hubs”. Cutting staff numbers, most often corporate and non-clinical, but in some areas extending to reductions to clinical staff. Extending waiting times for planned operations and treatment, especially for procedures which currently have short waits, such as ophthalmology, which are often provided by the private sector. One CEO said it required “rationing of care” in these areas. There will be further delays and limiting of patients’ “right to choose” to use private services which diagnose autism and ADHD. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 10 March 2025
  5. News Article
    t-home tests for men worried about prostate cancer can give inconsistent and inaccurate results, BBC News has found. The tests, which resemble a Covid lateral flow strip, turn positive if a high level of a protein called PSA is detected in a drop of blood. Of five rapid tests analysed by the BBC, one did not work, three were negative or all-clear, but one returned a false positive result - all from the same blood sample. Prostate Cancer UK said it had significant concerns about the sale of the tests given their "questionable accuracy" and the absence of a doctor to interpret the results. There is no national prostate cancer screening programme in the UK, unlike for breast, bowel and cervical cancer. Instead, the onus is on men to request a blood test from their GP once they are over 50 years old, external, or from 45 for higher risk groups. That NHS test, which is processed in a laboratory, measures the level of PSA released by the prostate, a small gland involved in the production of semen. A high PSA level does not mean you have cancer but is a warning sign which can then lead to further scans and tests to rule out the disease. Dozens of companies now sell self-testing kits designed to measure PSA levels. The UK medicines regulator, the MHRA, says in its guidance that over-the-counter PSA kits are "not a reliable indicator of prostate cancer" and must not "claim to detect cancer". "As your experience shows, these rapid tests appear to have questionable accuracy," says Amy Rylance, assistant director of health improvement at Prostate Cancer UK. "That's a big problem because they can falsely reassure people who really do have elevated levels of PSA and should seek further testing, or they can cause undue worry among people who are absolutely fine." Read full story Source: BBC News, 5 March 2025
  6. Content Article
    The Covid-19 pandemic, which rapidly escalated into a global crisis that impacted millions of lives and disrupted economies around the world, was a wake-up call for the management of infectious disease outbreaks. Dr Stella Chungong and Dr Landry Ndriko Mayigane work for the Health Security Preparedness Department in the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Programme. In this article, they encourage countries to implement early action reviews (EARs) of disease outbreaks. EARs help countries assess their vigilance, planning and responsiveness, and could help countries be better prepared during outbreaks.  The guidelines detail three time-based metrics, named 7-1-7, which offer a simple, structured approach to outbreak management: 7 Days to Detect, which measures how quickly the country can detect a suspected disease outbreak, with the aim being detection within 7 days. 1 Day to Notify, which measures the time taken to notify relevant public health authorities and stakeholders, with the aim being notification within 1 day. This goal is not new; it is consistent with the International Health Regulations (2005) that require countries to notify the relevant authorities within 24 hours of detecting a disease outbreak. 7 Days to Respond measures how quickly the country can establish a response to the outbreak, the aim being the instigation of effective response actions within 7 days.
  7. News Article
    Black men in England are more likely to be diagnosed with late-stage prostate cancer than their white counterparts, while being less likely to receive life-saving treatment, analysis by the National Prostate Cancer Audit has found. The analysis found that black men were diagnosed with stage three or four prostate cancer at a rate of 440 per 100,000 black men in England, which is 1.5 times higher compared with their white counterparts, who had a diagnosis rate of 295 per 100,000. Furthermore, the research also found that black men in their 60s who had a later diagnosis were 14% less likely to receive life-saving treatments that have been approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for use on the NHS. The research was conducted by analysing new prostate cancer diagnoses by ethnicity in England from January 2021 to December 2023, using data from the Rapid Cancer Registration dataset and the National Cancer Registration dataset. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among British men, with about 52,300 new cases and 12,000 deaths recorded in the UK each year. Black men are twice as likely to be diagnosed and 2.5 times more likely to die from the disease compared with white men. Prostate Cancer UK is calling for the government’s guidelines to be updated as, under current guidance, it is an individual’s responsibility to find out his risk and decide if he would like to request a blood test. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 9 January 2025
  8. News Article
    As the number of people infected with bird flu rises in the US, continued limits on testing may pose a problem as these cases crop up. Commercial labs are now developing tests that will be available by prescription, but the tests will still be recommended only for people in close contact with animals and animal products – even as cases in Missouri remain a mystery and wild bird migration and extreme heat may increase spillover opportunities, officials say. Blood tests have revealed a second person in Missouri exposed to bird flu with no known animal contact, officials with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told reporters on Thursday. Quest Diagnostics announced on Wednesday that its test for H5N1 will soon be available with a prescription from a medical provider, and other commercial labs are also developing tests for the public. But the tests will only be recommended for people with close contact to animals or animal products like raw meat or milk. In “the lion’s share of situations”, most people with flu symptoms do not need an H5N1 specific test, said Nirav Shah, principal deputy director at the CDC. “It’s really when there’s an epidemiological exposure history that is suggestive of H5, where the H5 test would be warranted.” Neither of the Missouri cases would’ve been detected with limitations like these. However, the CDC still recommends that states regularly check positive flu A tests for H5N1, which is how the first Missouri case was found. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 24 October 2024
  9. Content Article
    Cancer Research UK has set out how the next UK Government could dramatically improve cancer outcomes and prevent 20,000 cancer deaths a year by 2040.  'Longer better lives: A manifesto for cancer research and care' has been developed with the insights of cancer patients and experts from across health, life sciences, government and academic sectors.   The charity said that huge strides have been made in beating cancer – with survival in the UK doubling over the last 50 years.  But it warned that with NHS cancer services in crisis and around half a million new cancer cases each year expected by 2040 – this hard-won progress is at risk of stalling.    With the UK lagging behind comparable countries when it comes to cancer survival, the charity is calling on all political parties to make cancer a top priority in their party manifestos.  In the Manifesto, the charity sets out the following five missions for the Government to follow to dramatically improve cancer outcomes. They are: 1. Rebuild the UK’s global position in biomedical research. The UK Government should set an ambition in its first 100 days to lead the G7 in research intensity, increase government investment and make the UK an attractive destination for scientists and clinicians worldwide. 2. Prevent thousands more cancer cases. The UK Government has a once in a generation opportunity to tackle one of the biggest health issues facing the country – smoking. Around 500,000 hospital admissions every year in England are attributable to smoking – equivalent to one person being admitted every minute. The UK Government should urgently progress laws to increase the age of sale of tobacco products. If these measures help achieve a smoke free England by 2030, it could prevent around 18,200 cancer cases in the country by 2040. 3. Diagnose cancers earlier and reduce inequalities. Almost half of cancers in England are diagnosed at a late stage, and around 1 in 5 cancer patients are diagnosed via emergency routes. Earlier cancer diagnosis saves lives, and we are calling on the UK Government to implement measures to reduce late-stage diagnosis in England. The UK Government should transform and optimise cancer screening programmes and accelerate the roll-out of the lung cancer screening programme in England. Cancer Research UK is also calling on the UK Government to address variation in treatment across different geographical areas and reduce inequalities in early diagnosis in England through targeted action plans. 4. Bring tests, treatments and innovations to patients more quickly. Despite the tireless work of staff within the NHS, patients continue to wait far too long for vital tests and treatment. While there is huge potential for innovation in the NHS, change must be backed by long-term funding for staff, essential kit and facilities. The UK Government should set out a 10-year cancer-specific workforce plan to address the chronic staff shortages in cancer services. The UK Government should eliminate the £10.2 billion NHS maintenance deficit by 2030 and commit to rolling ringfenced capital investment for cancer. 5. Build a national movement to beat cancer, together. The current system is fragmented. In England, responsibility for cancer research and care is spread across NHS England, at least 5 government departments and multiple agencies. Cancer Research UK thinks that the best opportunities for improving cancer outcomes need those responsible for research, innovation, NHS services and public health from across government to coordinate their actions, ensuring we accelerate research, the adoption of innovation and reduce inequalities for everyone affected by cancer. A new National Cancer Council for England, accountable to the Prime Minister, should be set up to drive cross-government action on cancer and deliver a 10-year cancer strategy for England.
  10. Content Article
    When it comes to your health, it's easy to fall into the mindset that unless you are having signs or symptoms of an illness, you can put off going to see your doctor and skip yearly exams or tests. But preventative care—such as blood tests, cancer screening, mental health check-ins, vaccinations and tests for genetic conditions—can help keep you from developing a serious illness or having to receive care at the hospital.  Speak Up™ To Prevent Serious Illness is a patient safety campaign from The Joint Commission designed to educate patients on how to find preventative care services, get past barriers and try to avoid reaching a crisis point with their health. The Joint Commission has produced a video, infographic and distribution guide as part of the campaign.
  11. News Article
    Over the counter genetic tests in the UK that assess the risk of cancer or heart problems fail to identify 89% of those in danger of getting killer diseases, a new study has found. Polygenic risk scores are so unreliable that they also wrongly tell one in 20 people who receive them they will develop a major illness, even though they do not go on to do so. That is the conclusion of an in-depth review of the performance of polygenic risk scores, which underpin tests on which consumers spend hundreds of pounds. The findings come amid a boom in the number of companies offering polygenic risk score tests which purport to tell customers how likely they are to get a particular disease. Academics at University College London (UCL) who undertook the research are warning that such tests are so flawed they should be regulated “to protect the public from unrealistic expectations” that they will correctly identify their risk of a particular disease. The authors concluded: “Polygenic risk scores performed poorly in population screening, individual risk prediction and population risk stratification. “Strong claims about the effect of polygenic risk scores on healthcare seem to be disproportionate to their performance.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 17 October 2023
  12. News Article
    The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it is reviving a programme to mail free rapid coronavirus tests to Americans. Starting 25 September, people can request four free tests per household through covidtests.gov. Officials say the tests are able to detect the latest variants and are intended to be used through the end of the year. The return of the free testing program comes after Americans navigated the latest uptick in covid cases with free testing no longer widely available. The largest insurance companies stopped reimbursing the costs of retail at-home testing once the requirement to do so ended with the public health emergency in May. The Biden administration stopped mailing free tests in June. The Department of Health and Human Services also announced Wednesday that it was awarding $600 million to a dozen coronavirus test manufacturers. Agency officials said the funding would improve domestic manufacturing capacity and provide the federal government with 200 million over-the-counter tests to use in the future. “These critical investments will strengthen our nation’s production levels of domestic at-home COVID-19 rapid tests and help mitigate the spread of the virus,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. Experts say free coronavirus testing proved to be an effective public health tool, allowing people to check their status before attending large gatherings or spending time with older or medically vulnerable people at risk of severe disease even after being vaccinated. It also enables people to start antiviral treatments in the early days of infection to prevent severe disease. Read full story (paywalled) Source: Washington Post, 20 September 2023
  13. News Article
    Thousands of people who are unknowingly living with hepatitis C in England could be identified and treated due to an expanded NHS testing initiative. The initiative includes new liver scanning and portable testing units to be rolled out in communities where people may be at a higher risk of contracting the infection. Also included in the initiative are testing events happening at GP surgeries and community outreach at drug and alcohol support services. Read full story Source: Guardian 8 April 2024
  14. News Article
    Millions of people are being urged to get checks for a condition which has been described as the “silent killer”. If left untreated, high blood pressure can lead to heart attacks, strokes, kidney disease and vascular dementia. Up to 4.2 million people in England are thought to be living with high blood pressure without knowing it – around a third of all those with the condition. Now, a new NHS Get Your Blood Pressure Checked campaign has been launched, backed by health charities, to warn people the condition often has no symptoms. England’s chief medical officer, Professor Sir Chris Whitty, said: “High blood pressure usually has no symptoms but can lead to serious health consequences. “The only way to know if you have high blood pressure is to get a simple, non-invasive blood pressure test. “Even if you are diagnosed, the good news is that it’s usually easily treatable. “Getting your blood pressure checked at a local pharmacy is free, quick and you don’t even need an appointment, so please go for a check today – it could save your life.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 11 March 2024
  15. News Article
    A test that can detect oesophageal cancer at an earlier stage than current methods should be made more widely available to prevent deaths, charities have said. The capsule sponge test, previously known as Cytosponge, involves a patient swallowing a dissolvable pill on a string. The pill then releases a sponge which collects cells from the oesophagus as it is retrieved. The test can detect abnormalities that form as part of a condition known as Barrett’s oesophagus, which makes a person more likely to develop oesophageal cancer. In the UK 9,300 people are diagnosed with oesophageal cancer a year, according to Cancer Research. The disease is difficult to detect because the symptoms for the cancer are not easily recognisable – and can be mistaken for indigestion – until a it is at an advanced stage. The capsule sponge test can detect the cancer at an earlier stage than the current methods, such as an endoscopy, used to diagnose oesophageal cancer. However, it is only currently available to higher-risk patients as an alternative to endoscopy as part of NHS pilot schemes. Cancer Research UK is working with the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) on a trial that will recruit 120,000 people to see if the capsule sponge test can reduce deaths from oesophageal cancer. If successful, the test could be rolled out more widely. Mimi McCord, the founder of Heartburn Cancer UK, who lost her husband, Mike, to oesophageal cancer in 2002, said: “Cancer of the oesophagus is a killer that can hide in plain sight. People don’t always realise it, but not all heartburn is harmless. While they keep on treating the symptoms, the underlying cause might be killing them.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 5 February 2024
  16. News Article
    A blood test for detecting Alzheimer’s disease could be just as accurate as painful and invasive lumbar punctures and could revolutionise diagnosis of the condition, research suggests. Measuring levels of a protein called p-tau217 in the blood could be just as good as lumbar punctures at detecting the signs of Alzheimer’s, and better than a range of other tests under development, experts say. The protein is a marker for biological changes that happen in the brain with Alzheimer’s disease. Dr Richard Oakley, an associate director of research and innovation at the Alzheimer’s Society, said: “This study is a hugely welcome step in the right direction as it shows that blood tests can be just as accurate as more invasive and expensive tests at predicting if someone has features of Alzheimer’s disease in their brain. “Furthermore, it suggests results from these tests could be clear enough to not require further follow-up investigations for some people living with Alzheimer’s disease, which could speed up the diagnosis pathway significantly in future. However, we still need to see more research across different communities to understand how effective these blood tests are across everyone who lives with Alzheimer’s disease.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 23 January 2024
  17. News Article
    Scientists are hoping a new 45-minute blood test can quickly identify sepsis before it kills. Sepsis is a life-threatening reaction to an infection. It occurs when the body overreacts and starts attacking its own tissues and organs. The hard-to-diagnose condition kills nearly 50,000 Brits a year more than breast, prostate and bowel cancer combined - with severe cases taking just hours to prove fatal. Dr Andrew Retter, an intensive care consultant at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, who is trialling the test told The Times: “If someone comes into A&E and they’re sick, we can spot that early and start treatment early. “For every hour antibiotics are delayed, people’s mortality goes up by about 7 or 8 per cent if they’ve got sepsis.” Melissa Mead’s one-year-old son William died after weeks of a lingering cough and concerns were dismissed by doctors and 111 operators. The campaigner told The Times: “A test like this at the point of care in A&E, for example, could remove the uncertainty about sepsis, which presents differently in different people. “This could give people a chance at life that my son never had.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 17 December 2023
  18. Event
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    On the back of the National Point of Care Testing guidance issued in May by the IBMS, RCPath and ACB. This webinar will explore the use case of rapid diagnostic testing to Care, Monitor and Protect. The purpose of a POCT service is to enable the delivery of high quality, accessible diagnostics at the point of need for clinical services, improving clinical outcomes and enhancing the patients’ healthcare experience. The aim should be to ensure that POCT services nationally utilise (and inform) advances in technology to innovate the way in which patients can access diagnostics and clinical services. Technology plays an important part of the patient pathway and in 2022 The World Health Organisation (WHO) published The Target Product Profile (TPP) for readers of rapid diagnostic tests detailing the preferred product characteristics and target regimen profiles. The webinar will provide a guide for commissioners, NHS settings and community pharmacies delivering NHS services. The NHS Long Term Plan highlights the importance of patients receiving care closer to home, shifting from a traditional model of hospital-based services towards a more adaptive community-based approach. Learn about Previous case studies of how Testing to Care, Monitor and Protect has been robustly rolled out across the NHS. Issues faced and how they were overcome. Impact of digital readers when combined with high-quality lateral flow tests in a clinical setting How The Target Product Profile (TPP) for readers of rapid diagnostic tests was developed according to a process based on the WHO Target Product Profiles, Preferred Product Characteristics, and Target Regimen Profiles. Speakers Dr George Newham PhD, Research and Development Manager, SureScreen Diagnostics Dr Rahul Batra, Clinical Innovations and Disruptive Technologies Lead in the Centre for Clinical Infection and Diagnostics Research at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital Julie Hart, NHS Pathway Transformation and Market Access Expert: Diagnostics and Artificial Intelligence Dr Andrew Botham, Chief Scientific Officer - TestCard Register for the webinar
  19. Event
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    Public Policy Projects is holding a roundtable "Improving access to genomic testing and medicine for better outcomes and reduced inequalities" on the 20th September from 10:30am to 12pm on Zoom. This session will be chaired by Parker Moss, Chief Commercial & Partnerships Officer at Genomics England, and will seek to explore how genomic technologies can be better utilised, and how services can be appropriately coordinated, to ensure that emerging technology can be used as a tool for reducing inequalities and bettering the overall standard of care for cancer patients in the NHS. The hosts are looking for individuals from Cancer Alliances, ICB, Genomic Laboratory Hubs, Cell Pathology Centres, and Clinical Diagnostic Centres to attend and share their experiences and views at this session. Find out more and register to attend
  20. Event
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    In the context of the complex challenges across the health and care landscape, including significant workforce shortages and limited clinical capacity, this free online event will consider the role of diagnostics in supporting those working in the system and keeping people out of hospital. The King's Fund event will explore: the potential that increased access to diagnostic testing, and in particular in vitro diagnostic testing, in primary care, the community and in community diagnostic hubs offers to diagnosing people earlier and avoiding unnecessary hospital admissions what innovations in patient pathways mean for those working across the system and how they are being supported to make changes, in the context of the significant challenges they are facing the role integrated care systems can play in developing diagnostic services that encourage innovation and are designed with people and communities at their heart. Register
  21. Event
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    Sir Mike Richards’ review of diagnostics, Diagnostics: recovery and renewal, which was commissioned in response to recommendations in the NHS Long-Term Plan, outlined a new diagnostic model for services. The review identified key enablers to drive and deliver much needed to change to optimise diagnostic capacity and improve efficiency, along with the need for a major expansion of the workforce and improved connectivity and digitisation across all aspects of diagnostics. Demand for almost all aspects of diagnostics has been rising year on year. The public’s familiarisation with swab testing and testing closer to home through the Covid-19 has provided a strong launch pad to change the approach to diagnostics in response to this rising demand This King's Fund event will explore what can be learnt from the NHS reponse to Covid-19, how partners are working to reshape diagnostic pathways through community diagnostic centres, point-of-care testing and increasing workforce capability and capacity. Register
  22. News Article
    Opt-out blood tests for HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C will be rolled out to a further 46 hospitals across England, the government has announced. Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said the new £20m programme would lead to earlier diagnoses and treatment. Under the scheme, anyone having a blood test in selected hospital A&E units has also been tested for HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C, unless they opted out. The trials have been taking place for the last 18 months in 33 hospitals in London, Greater Manchester, Sussex and Blackpool, where prevalence is classed by the NHS as "very high". Figures released by the NHS earlier show those pilots have identified more than 3,500 cases of the three bloodborne infections since April 2022, including more than 580 HIV cases. Ms Atkins said: "The more people we can diagnose, the more chance we have of ending new transmissions of the virus and the stigma wrongly attached to it." She added that rolling out the tests to more hospitals would help ensure early diagnoses so people "can be given the support and the medical treatment they need to live not just longer lives but also higher quality lives". Read full story Source: BBC News, 29 November 2023
  23. News Article
    A new COVID-19 test that is able to detect even asymptomatic cases of the virus through saliva is being piloted in the UK. The new LamPORE test, developed by UK-based company Oxford Nanopore, will be tested in mobile laboratories in four areas across the country. It is already being used in Aberdeen, with plans to roll it out in Telford, Brent and Newbury, and results so far have shown it is even effective at detecting the virus in people who are not showing symptoms. LamPORE will allow for additional testing capacity where it is needed for large numbers of people and be used alongside existing PCR and lateral flow test, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said. Read full story Source: The Independent, 28 January 2021
  24. News Article
    Only a third of local authorities that are rolling out lateral flow testing have made the test’s limitations clear to the public—including that it does not pick up all cases and that people testing negative could still be infected, an investigation by The BMJ has found. A search of the websites of the 114 local authorities rolling out lateral flow testing found that 81 provided information for the public on rapid COVID-19 testing. Of these, nearly half (47%; 38) did not explain the limitations of the tests or make it clear that people needed to continue following the restrictions or safety measures even if they tested negative, as they could still be infected. Although 53% (43) did advise people to continue to follow the current measures after a negative result, only 32% (26) were clear about the test’s limitations or its potential for false negatives. The advice the websites gave to the public about a negative test result ranged from “A single negative test is not a passport to carrying on your daily life ‘virus-free’... don’t let a negative COVID-19 test give you a false sense of security” to “It is good news that you don’t have the coronavirus.” On 10 January England’s health secretary, Matt Hancock, launched the drive for local authorities to test asymptomatic people who cannot work from home, to try to halt the spread of the virus. But many public health experts are concerned about false reassurance from mass testing. Read full story Source: BMJ, 26 January 2021
  25. News Article
    Boris Johnson’s plans to test millions of schoolchildren for coronavirus every week appear to be in disarray after the UK regulator refused to formally approve the daily testing of pupils in England, the Guardian has learned. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) told the government on Tuesday it had not authorised the daily use of 30-minute tests due to concerns that they give people false reassurance if they test negative. This could lead to pupils staying in school and potentially spreading the virus when they should be self-isolating. The regulator’s decision undermines a key element of the government’s strategy to bring the pandemic under control – and is bound to raise fresh questions about the tests, and the safety of the schools that have been asked to use them. Prof Jon Deeks, a biostatistician of the University of Birmingham and Royal Statistical Society, described the use of rapid tests in this context as “ridiculous and dangerous” and welcomed the MHRA’s stance. He said: “It is really important that we have confidence in the safety and effectiveness of tests for Covid-19 and all other diseases - this is the responsibility of our regulator. “This clarification of the unsuitability of lateral flow tests for saying people are not infected with SARS-CoV-2 from the MHRA demonstrates that they are taking their responsibility seriously to ensure that tests are used in a safe way." Read full story Source: The Guardian, 14 January 2021

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