Summit explores potential of point-of-care testing

A conference to explore the potential of point-of-care testing (POCT) to improve health outcomes attracted senior leaders and expert contributors from across the North West and beyond.

Dr Paula Cowan, NHS England North West Medical Director for Primary Care, chaired the summit and said: “It has been a brilliant event, and I hope everyone can take the energy from today and bring it to every aspect of our work.”

The conference aimed to define how the North West could accelerate the safe and effective adoption of point-of-care testing to improve diagnosis.

Organised by Health Innovation North West Coast, the event also showcased several innovative companies that had developed point-of-care testing technologies.

Dr Cowan added: “The common thread of what we have been discussing is communication, integration and collaboration.

“There’s no doubting the value of point-of-care testing and the role that Health Innovation North West Coast plays in ensuring that all partners in the region work collaboratively is hugely important. That will help us deliver for our patients.

“The next steps should focus on what kind of assurances and governance structures we put around point-of-care testing in future.”

POCT is generally carried out at or near the place where the patient is receiving care, for example in a GP surgery, pharmacy or community setting, rather than at a central laboratory.

It can deliver a faster diagnosis and treatment, improved patient outcomes and experience, reduce delays and pressures on urgent or community services, and prevent deterioration, as well as support antimicrobial stewardship.

Prof Vicki Chalker, Deputy Chief Scientific Officer at NHS England, outlined the national perspective on POCT.

Mandy Townsend, Associate Director for Patient Safety at Health Innovation North West Coast, described the series of POCT projects she has led or been a partner in since 2022. Read more here.

She said: “It’s fantastic that we’ve managed to attract so many senior figures, including Dr Cowan and Prof Chalker, and we’ve heard from a variety of disciplines to explore the options for developing POCT.

Mandy Townsend, Associate Director for Patient Safety at Health Innovation North West Coast, outlined to the summit the series of POCT projects she has led or been a partner in since 2022. Read more here.

She said: “It’s fantastic that we’ve managed to attract so many senior figures from a variety of disciplines to explore the options for developing POCT.

“From what we’ve heard, the North West is as well placed as any region and likely ahead of the curve. The projects we’ve led at Health Innovation North West Coast show there’s widespread acceptance and approval for POCT among patients and clinicians, and the neighbourhood scale of delivery is very important.

“Crucially, we’ve seen a significant change in the appropriate prescription of antibiotics. In some cases, tests showed patients who would have been prescribed antibiotics didn’t need them, while other tests showed that patients who were not going to get antibiotics did need them. That’s very important for the development of antimicrobial stewardship.”

Mandy added: “Now we know that the pathway works across community and primary care settings, we need to test the impact at scale. What happens if we implement at Place level? We want not only to improve care for individual patients but also ease the pressure on A&E departments and reduce the numbers of patients who deteriorate enough to need admission.

“We also need to understand what motivates the change in clinical behaviour. From wider academic research we know that not all clinicians act on test results. We need to understand what we are doing locally that helps clinicians act on the results, so we can spread this.

“Alongside the scale work we will need to do some more qualitative research. There is no point in investing in new technology if the test results do not support clinical decisions.

“We are working with Health Innovation Manchester to pull together all the proof-of-concept work across the North West into a full real-world evaluation report, and with health economists to produce a robust model that will demonstrate cost effectiveness of the pathway. We will publish this later in the year.”

The summit also heard presentations about how POCT has been deployed in A&E departments, its potential in other settings, how it is being used to diagnose sepsis, and how collaboration can sustain its growth across the region.

The event, at the Bluecoat arts centre in Liverpool, also featured several innovative companies with POCT devices:

• PolarisDX
• Una Health
• Cepheid
• MeMed
• Abbott
• Lumos Diagnostics