News
Self-sampling kits could prevent cancer in 1000 women a year
Women who are overdue for cervical cancer screening are most likely to participate in screening when a self-sampling kit is offered by a healthcare professional as part of routine GP appointments. Over half of the people offered an at-home test during an unrelated GP appointment returned the sample, according to a paper published in eClinical Medicine, authored by researchers from Queen Mary University of London and King’s. If this approach was adopted across the NHS, it
is estimated that as many as 1,000 women would be prevented from developing cervical cancer every year. Home-testing kits for HPV will soon be offered to people in England who are overdue for cervical cancer screening, giving women the option to stay up to date with cervical screening without having to
have an internal examination. “These findings are directly relevant to current
efforts to modernise cervical screening in England. Self-sampling gives women greater control over how and when they get screened. In the YouScreen trial, we saw how effective self-sampling can be in reaching women overdue for screening,” commented Dr. Anita Lim, Lead Epidemiologist on the study and Chief Investigator of the YouScreen trial. She added: “This study reinforces that many women welcome the option - particularly when it’s offered in person by a trusted healthcare professional. A simple change like this could have a major impact on preventing cervical cancer.” Senior researcher, Professor Peter Sasieni
CBE, from Queen Mary University of London, who conducted the study while at King’s, commented: “Our study showed that offering a self-sample kit in person was the most effective method of encouraging women to complete their cervical cancer screening tests: of 449 women opportunistically offered a kit in a GP appointment, 234 (52%) accepted and returned a sample. The uptake of self-sampling after a postal offer was lower: 12% among those sent a kit, and just 5% for women sent a letter offering a kit. But since letter and kits were sent regardless of whether women consulted with their GP and regardless of how busy their GP practice was, in total more women were screened thanks to the systematic offer at 15 months than the opportunistic offer in the GP practice. This shows that a combination of approaches may be best for enabling more women to participate in cervical screening.”
Digostics surpasses £500,000 funding milestone on Crowdcube
Digostics, the UK-based HealthTech company behind the world’s first oral glucose intolerance test (OGTT) that can be done at home instead of a clinic or hospital, has announced it has surpassed £500,000 in funding on the Crowdcube equity crowdfunding platform, with more than 100 investors backing the company’s mission to revolutionise diabetes detection and monitoring. GTT@home is an accurate home-use OGTT test
kit developed by Digostics that uses finger-prick blood samples to measure how well the body processes glucose. The test is reported to be as accurate as lab-based OGTTs when used in adults with glucose intolerance, type 2 diabetes, or in pregnant women to diagnose gestational diabetes. The funding builds on Digostics’ momentum
across the UK and internationally, where GTT@ home is already CE-marked, and approved for use in other markets. The digital platform has already delivered over 5,000 NHS tests and is being adopted by multiple NHS Trusts for gestational diabetes screening in pregnancy. The company is also driving early international interest with operations in the UAE and Singapore. “Reaching the £500,000 threshold is an exciting moment, one that reflects investor belief in our mission to make diabetes screening simpler, earlier, and more accessible,” said James Jackson, CEO and Founder of Digostics. “With healthcare systems under increasing pressure, innovations like GTT@home can reduce clinical burden while improving patient experience and outcomes.”
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www.clinicalservicesjournal.com I September 2025
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Violence against A&E staff almost doubles in five years
Nursing staff in A&E departments in England report being punched, spat at and even threatened with acid, an investigation by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has revealed, with violence against emergency department staff almost doubling since 2019. The nursing union said that without decisive
action to end the “utterly abhorrent” rise in violence, including by reducing lengthy waits in A&E, ending corridor care and tackling chronic understaffing, violence and aggression will continue to rise. It comes as new RCN analysis of NHS data
shows that waits of more than 12 hours in A&E increased by over 20 times between 2019 and 2024. For the first time, the RCN is warning ministers that failing to reduce violence in healthcare settings will see the government’s plans to turn round the health service in England “fail completely”. Across the 89 Trusts that answered the RCN’s
FOI request, there were 2,093 incidences of physical violence against staff recorded in 2019 compared to 4,054 in 2024. The rise has been so pronounced that it means during a typical working day in England, A&E staff are now being attacked every hour. At Southmead Hospital in Bristol incidents
of violence against A&E staff almost doubled between 2019-2024 (83 attacks to 152). At Manchester Royal Infirmary, incidents rose from 39 in 2019 to 79 in 2024. While at Maidstone Hospital in Kent, incidents rose by over 500% from 13 in 2019 to 89 in 2024. One senior A&E nurse based in east London said her hospital was a “tinder box” for violence. She has seen colleagues punched, kicked, had a gun pointed at them and has herself been spat at by a patient and threatened with an acid attack. She developed depression and anxiety and has taken a secondment in research as a break from the profession. In April, the health secretary Wes
Streeting pledged to “keep NHS staff safe” by implementing mandatory hospital-level reporting of violence against staff. However, the RCN says, “the government needs to do more than just record the shocking levels of violence” and ensure violent incidents begin to fall. Taking action on corridor care, understaffing and lengthy waits should be central to any plan, the College says.
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