The Government has announced a wider roll-out of rapid COVID-19 across England. There will be a community testing regime initiated this week, covering all 317 local authorities. Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that rapid lateral flow tests will be used, providing a positive or negative result within 30 minutes. He said that he hoped such a move towards rapid COVID-19 testing will break transmission rates within communities and lessen the skyrocketing number of cases in England. Governmen...

BIVDA Statement on UK Rare Disease Framework BIVDA Chief Executive Doris-Ann Williams has welcomed the publication of the UK Rare Diseases Framework. The Framework lists the priorities and underlying strategic themes that detail how the UK will address the challenges faced by those living with rare diseases, with four high-level priorities for action over the next five years: Helping patients get a final diagnosis faster; increasing awareness of rare diseases among healthcare professio...

DnaNudge has been announced as a finalist for the XPRIZE Rapid COVID-19 Testing Competition. The company is one of the top 20 performing businesses globally, and the award has been directed to the CovidNudge test. The test provides results in 90 minutes and, importantly, does not require any lab processing, pipettes or manual sample pre-processing in its operation. A study published in The Lancet Microbe journal found that the test’s average sensitivity was 94.4% compared against standard ...

BIVDA represents the industry sector who manufacture and distribute diagnostic tests to the NHS. These rely on a high level of automation and so industry has service engineers and technical specialists working in NHS pathology laboratories alongside NHS staff to ensure that the equipment is maintained and allowing diagnostic test results to be issued without delay.  Doris-Ann Williams, BIVDA’s Chief Executive said “This equipment will have been subjected to infected samples and ...

£149m has been allocated by Government to support increased rapid coronavirus testing in care home settings. Due to the severe vulnerability of care home residents and the need for avoiding staff-patient virus transmission, care homes have been identified as a key priority in the Government’s COVID-19 testing strategy. Staff will now be asked to undergo two rapid virus tests per week, this is in addition to the present once-a-week PCR test they complete to detect potential COVID-19 i...

A new programme leader has been confirmed for the Government’s project of building 40 new UK hospitals by 2030. Natalie Forrest, a registered NHS nurse with a wealth of construction, health and project management experience, will head up the construction initiative. Forrest worked most recently as the Chief Executive of Chase Farm Hospital and has 30 years experience working within the NHS. Recently, she led the rapid construction and operationalisation of the NHS Nightingale facility in r...

BIVDA has issued a Press Release on the MHRA's decision to grant exceptional use authorisation for NHS Test and Trace's self-testing device.  BIVDA Chief Operating Officer – Helen Dent said; “We welcome the exceptional use authorisation for this self-test device to be used as part of the wider strategy to test for and control COVID-19, but emphasise that this is part of the solution and other methods and laboratory tests remain vital. This technology has a...

A short statement has been released by BIVDA’s Chief Operating Officer Helen Dent on the COVID-19 border closures.  Helen said; “Similarly to pharmaceutical companies, BIVDA members have planned contingencies in place for border emergencies in line with business continuity planning, which includes buffer stock and the ability to re-route supplies. Therefore, the provision of Diagnostic testing supplies will continue. We continue to monitor events and suppliers are working w...

LEX Diagnostics is developing a point-of-care PCR platform that is a major improvement in speed, cost and ease-of-use over all existing molecular diagnostics in the market today. Originally designed as an influenza & RSV platform specifically for use in primary care, LEX is playing its part in getting us through the current Covid pandemic with a combined flu/Covid test providing an answer in around 5 minutes – even for low viral load samples. The entire process from swab elution throug...

New Oxford AHSN study demonstrates how primary care point-of-care testing can avoid unnecessary hospital admissions and improve patient pathways