BIVDA welcomed members to our event to network and hear from a stellar line-up of speakers from industry and government.
We were delighted to host a successful and well-attended Parliamentary Reception last week in the Churchill Room in the House of Commons.
We would like to extend a special thank you to former Health Minister, Baroness Thornton for stepping in to host the event at the last minute after Lord Darzi had to travel abroad. Her informed commentary and analysis after each presentation ensured the event flowed seamlessly.
After a period of networking and canape-crunching, our brilliant speakers took the stage. First up was NHSE’s Medical Director of Transformation, Professor Erika Denton, who spoke about her team’s work to embed innovations, particularly in the digital space, into the NHS. Our keynote industry speaker, Abbott’s Jude Smith, noted her company’s collaborations with the NHS and ICBs to benefit patient outcomes, while acknowledging the need for greater use of community testing. It was welcome to later hear of the Government’s emphasis in this area.
Collaboration and innovation were the key themes of the day, and fittingly, Roz Campion, Director of the OLS, spoke next. Roz elaborated on the current work of the OLS and, in almost real-time breaking news, revealed some of the life sciences announcements from the Budget as Rachel Reeves’ words echoed from the chamber nearby. Highlights included the confirmation of £520m of funding for Life Sciences manufacturing.
The first session concluded with a video speech from Professor the Lord Darzi of Denham. Lord Darzi was incredibly apologetic that urgent business had prevented him from attending in person, but thanked BIVDA for our continued advocacy, including amplifying and complementing the work of the Fleming Initiative. He maintained the strong focus on diagnostics as a solution to NHS performance as set out in his recent Review.
Kicking off the second half was NW London Pathology’s MD, Saghar Missaghian-Cully. Saghar reinforced the important work undertaken by pathology networks up and down the country each day and how services are becoming increasingly sustainable. Jane Meaney of AMLo Biosciences then provided the perspective of a new start up. Jane rightly pointed out that the UK is overflowing with fantastic innovators who struggle to penetrate the UK market, and instead are driven by investors to focus abroad.
Our final speaker was Thermo Fisher’s Kathy Davy, who had travelled from San Diego for the event. Kathy delved into the current and future impact of genomic sequencing, and how cancer patient outcomes can be significantly improved.
Finally, Health Minister Baroness Merron took the time to close the event on one of the busiest days in the Parliamentary calendar. The Minister underlined her desire to work with BIVDA and members to deliver the change that the NHS needs. She was generous with her time during the final hour of networking, meeting with numerous members.
We were joined by MPs from across the House who left the Budget debate to attend our event, including Jim Shannon MP, Dr Peter Prinsley MP, Dame Harriet Baldwin MP, and Shadow Business Secretary, Kevin Hollinrake MP.
Bringing members and parliamentarians together is a key part of BIVDA’s offer to our members. Informing MPs and Peers is crucial to positioning diagnostics as central to NHS reform. We thank our members for coming and sharing their stories.