NEWS
IBMS highlights future challenges in cancer testing
The IBMS and AstraZeneca have published a paper outlining how to create the capacity the NHS needs for the future of cancer testing. There are growing concerns that
the current model for cancer testing (and the workforce numbers associated with it) are unable to keep up with the increasing demand for pathology services across the NHS. With this in mind, the Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS) and AstraZeneca teamed up to develop a framework for building the cancer testing capacity the UK needs for the future. The roundtable event which led to the publication of ‘Time to Test’ had input from relevant experts at all levels of healthcare, industry and the professional bodies. The resulting paper outlines the six key challenges identified and makes recommendations on how to build and deliver streamlined and timely cancer testing
services fit for the UK’s future. The key recommendations are:
n Grow the workforce n Bring cancer testing together n Enable providers to deliver n Improve data n Develop a cancer testing accountability framework
n Invest in the fundamentals. IBMS Chief Executive David Wells said: “By looking at the entire cancer pathway from multiple perspectives, we have managed to produce a framework that will enrich the landscape of the transformation work that is ongoing in histopathology and cancer care.”
The IBMS and AstraZeneca will position this paper to add further context to NHS England’s excellent Histopathology Transformation Plan and broaden the call for positive change. By adding a wider diversity of sources, they aim to form a richer strategy which enables the delivery of better and more attractive career paths, advances testing systems and processes, and creates the required capacity in cancer testing for every UK patient to receive the right test at the right time.
The full paper is available to download at the IBMS website
www.IBMS.org.
EDITOR’S COMMENT 2024 – a year of learning?
Welcome to the first issue of 2024, and with the first few weeks of the new year already under our belts I hope everyone is still feeling positive and looking forward to the months to come. We’re kicking off the year in Pathology in Practice with an excellent piece from UK NEQAS’s Barbara De la Salle who, in this issue’s opinion column on the preceding page, writes persuasively about the role and value of education as part of external quality assessment. Obviously, assessments and other similar exercises can be viewed in one of two ways: a tick-box exercise to complete, hopefully pass and then move on; or as an opportunity for the organisation, the laboratory, and individual staff members to learn, grow and improve results and patient outcomes.
A perfect example of this can be found in our article on page 28, looking at a UK NEQAS exercise using a DNA specimen with a rare haemoglobin variant, first presented as a poster at the IBMS Congress 2023. Although the variant was successfully identified by most laboratories, the chance to participate in such an exercise should be one that most would see as beneficial.
As always, the most to be gained
comes from fully engaging in such events, going beyond the minimum requirements. Last year’s IBMS Congress – the best attended in the event’s history
– showed that the appetite for learning (and networking of course) is stronger than ever within the biomedical science arena. Going forward, Pathology in Practice is planning articles across the remainder of the year in partnership with UK NEQAS which I’m sure will prove valuable to many of our readers. Let’s make 2024 a year of learning. What better place to start than with
this issue? A forthcoming event to take note of is the British Society for Microbial Technology’s annual conference, on Thursday 2 May, taking place once again at the Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon, North London. The details are in our news section and a preview of the day’s programme courtesy of BSMT Chair Mark Wilks can be found on page 14. Further highlights of this issue include the second in Stephen MacDonald’s new series of articles on measurement uncertainty, this time looking at the increased awareness of metrological traceability and improvements in analytical methods. Also discussed are recent advancement in using saliva to diagnose hormone imbalances and the advantages of such a technique, the issues preventing the expansion of genomic sequencing for improved cancer treatment and a selection of current research into the drug-resistant fungal pathogen Candida auris.
andymyall@pathologyinpractice.com
UK NSC endorses digital pathology
The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) has endorsed the use of digital pathology as an alternative option to light microscopy for the review of cancer screening histopathology slides. Digital pathology (DP) enables glass histopathology slides to be reviewed digitally, rather than with a microscope. A Health Technology Assessment (HTA) study found that DP performs as well as light microscopy (LM) in cancer screening and that pathologists were comfortable and able to use both modalities.
The committee endorsed the use of DP at its November 2023 meeting following a consultation into the results of the HTA study. A total of 31 stakeholders responded to the consultation and none were aware of any evidence contradicting the HTA study. The UK NSC supported the use of DP in screening as a permissive modification,
WWW.PATHOLOGYINPRACTICE.COM FEBRUARY 2024
meaning it can be used where feasible in laboratories as an option to LM. The study focused on breast and bowel cancer, but expert stakeholders are confident its findings are also likely to be robust for cervix histopathology. The UK NSC did not carry out a cost-effectiveness exercise, so consulted stakeholders on the recommendation, based on the HTA study, to allow the use of DP in cancer screening, excluding cytology, as an alternative to light microscopy. Comments received from this consultation were presented to the UK NSC for a recommendation. In light of the consultation responses and expert input from the UK NSC’s Adult Reference Group, the committee was satisfied that digital pathology represented a safe option for diagnostic pathways in the breast, bowel and cervical screening programmes.
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