BIVDA welcomes the reiteration of previous Government announcements which seek to boost diagnostic capacity through Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) and increased, more efficient testing – as stated in the Queen’s Speech. We echo IBMS’s call to offer the Government and the Department for Health and Social Care our advice and expertise to ensure their plans can be realised.

The introduction of 160 CDCs by 2025 is, of course, a positive move to meet the huge testing needs of our nation, particularly with the enormous backlog caused by the pandemic. Our coverage of the current state of CDCs from April can be read here and our article examining the Government’s plans to tackle the elective care backlog – details of which were noted in the Queen’s Speech – can be viewed here.

BIVDA, like IBMS, strongly supports the Government’s pledge to provide millions of extra diagnostic tests over the next three years and its commitment to ensuring 95% of those needing diagnostic tests will receive them within 6 weeks by July 2025. You can read our press release from February detailing this here.

You can read IBMS’s full response to the Queen’s Speech here.