What better time to build a UK diagnostics sector fit for the future?
Geoff Twist, managing director, Roche Diagnostics UK & Ireland, outlines why it’s time to seize the moment for the diagnostics industry.
True watershed moments in healthcare are rare, but the COVID-19 pandemic is one such moment. It has caused a sea-change in how we prioritise different aspects of healthcare and brought into sharp relief the key role of diagnostics.
We have always known that diagnostic testing provides clinicians – and the wider health system – with information vital in healthcare decision-making, especially at a time of crisis. What the pandemic has shown, more than ever before, is how quick and easy access to diagnostics can help safeguard the health of both the public and the NHS.
Yet we also know that diagnostics has been deprioritised and undervalued for a long time. In vitro diagnostics inform 70% of all clinical decisions taken in the NHS, but just £1 is invested in diagnostic testing for every £100 spent.[1]Furthermore, while 95% of all clinical pathways rely on patient access to pathology services,[2] funding for pathology only accounts for 2% of the NHS’ budget.[3]
Our new report, The Future of Diagnostics Delivery in the UK, showcases our vision for the future of this vital area of healthcare. The report is backed by both the Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS) and the Association of British HealthTech Industries (ABHI) and is based on interviews with leading figures in Government, the NHS and UK pathology community.
We wanted to seize what felt like a unique opportunity to bring the different parts of the health decision-making landscape together, representing the integrated approach that underpins the direction of travel for the NHS. Our response to the pandemic has also exemplified how important this integrated approach is. Since day one, we have been collaborating closely with these partners, working together to find solutions to the challenge immediately in front of us. Through this collaboration we have been able to build a collective architecture which can be carried forward into the new and existing challenges ahead of us. For example, the warning just last week from the Government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, that a spike in influenza and respiratory syncytial virus infections and a doubling of deaths from flu is just around the corner.[4]
Our report highlights the clear discrepancy between the value diagnostics bring to healthcare systems, patients and wider society, and the investment it currently receives, and it focusses on three key areas of development for building the diagnostics industry of the future. First, we need to expand the UK pathology sector, with the skills, technology and resources needed to meet the current and future demands we know the sector faces. Second, we need to embed and integrate the most effective elements of the testing infrastructure created to tackle COVID-19. And finally, we must work together to ensure greater and faster uptake of diagnostic innovations across the NHS, where these have been shown to be of benefit to patients and cost effective.
Ultimately, the diagnostics which exist today and the new technologies and innovations coming down the line, are only valuable when they can be accessed, by the clinicians who can use them and the patients whose lives could be improved or lengthened by them. When NICE approves medicines for use, care providers are mandated to introduce and integrate them into care pathways. This has revolutionised patient access to state-of-the-art therapies across a range of conditions. The value the UK places on diagnostics should now be reflected in the same way. We must do more to ensure that all innovations with positive NICE diagnostic guidance receive mandated funding so they can be integrated into care systems, and reach the people who need them.
The UK Life Sciences Vision,[5] published earlier this month, highlights early diagnosis and treatment as one of seven key missions. We welcome this wholeheartedly, and have been greatly invested in working towards enabling earlier diagnosis of diseases like cancer, heart failure and Alzheimer’s as well as conditions like preeclampsia, which present a high risk of complication if not identified early. Now is the time to take full advantage of the strong foundations, which have been forged in a time of national emergency, to build a resilient, agile and sustainable UK diagnostics industry. The benefits of this will be felt in primary, secondary and tertiary care in the short, medium and long term, and will deliver on the themes of integration and innovation outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan.
The focus on diagnostics may have historically come second to treatment, cures or vaccines, but the importance of testing in this global pandemic has proved beyond doubt its role as the cornerstone of every treatment pathway. This must now be the catalyst for a bigger conversation. By maintaining the unprecedented ambition, speed and cooperation fostered through our collective desire to tackle COVID-19, we can now build a UK diagnostics sector which will be ready to respond to the next crisis and which will help make this country a global leader in prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
[1] The Value of IVDs, BIVDA https://www.bivda.org.uk/The-IVD-Industry/The-Value-of-IVDs
[2] National Pathology Programme Digital First: Clinical Transformation through Pathology Innovation, NHS England https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/pathol-dig-first.pdf
[3] Pathology Facts and Figures, Royal College of Pathologists https://www.rcpath.org/discover-pathology/news/fact-sheets/pathology-facts-and-figures-.html
[4] Imperial College London, Winter viruses and COVID-19 could push NHS to breaking point, warns new report https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/226493/winter-viruses-covid-19-could-push-nhs/
[5] Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, Life Sciences Vision https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/life-sciences-vision