On Thursday 10th February ACB delivered a webinar facilitated by Abbott on Integrated Care Systems and Laboratory Medicine.
The webinar was designed to support ACB members in understanding how the NHS Integrated Care System will work in practice, how it will affect their services, and the opportunities that will arise from its implementation. This was a highly anticipated subject, reflected in the large number of ACB members who registered to attend, demonstrating the importance that the Integrated Care Systems will play in service delivery.
Lisa Harrison, Marketing Director for Northern Europe at Abbott, facilitated the webinar and was joined by leaders in NHS laboratory medicine who shared their insights on the topic. The keynote speakers were:
- Neil Anderson, Past President ACB, Consultant Clinical Biochemist, Clinical Director, Clinical Diagnostic Services, UHCW
- Elaine Cloutman-Green, ACB Microbiology Professional Committee member, Consultant Clinical Scientist (Infection Control Doctor), Deputy Director of Infection Prevention and Control, Joint Trust Lead Healthcare Scientist, Great Ormond Street Hospital and Clinical Lecturer, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, University College London
- Bruce Daniel Head of Pathology, South West Region – NHS England, Previously Pathology Service Manager, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust
- Saghar Missaghian-Cully, Managing Director, North West London Pathology, Previously Regional Diagnostics Implementation Lead for Pathology & Imaging, NHS Improvement, and Managing Director, South West London Pathology
The webinar was broken up into three main sections. The discussion began focused on how the Integrated Care System will impact pathology networks and the speakers were invited to share their own experiences and perspectives on the operational elements of its implementation, helping to clarify some of the uncertainty around the practical elements of this new matrix and way of working.
This helped set the scene for attendees and led into a further discussion around the importance of promoting the critical role of laboratory medicine in integrated patient care. The speakers championed the role of pathology and encouraged ACB members and all leaders in the sector to get involved in the discussions around integrated care to help influence its design and implementation. Throughout the exchange, the speakers highlighted the importance of relying on data to demonstrate the value that pathology can bring to integrated patient care and improved patient outcomes and argued that this was a vital tool to bring into these conversations.
The speakers also explored the role that industry should play in this and agreed that links to corporates were key to supporting innovation in the sector. They advocated for allowing for more access to knowledge from industry, sharing information and data and how to utilise it in pathology laboratories, so that this exchange may lead to greater efficiencies and improvements in service delivery. The role that professional bodies must play was also touched on, and the speakers were in agreement that we should liaise with professional bodies from other healthcare disciplines to champion laboratory medicine. This would form a joint approach, with organisations like the ACB supporting the role of laboratory medicine in integrated patient care at a strategic level, while our members and leaders in the sector would be involved on the ground, to ensure that our services are represented in their local integrated care network.
Finally, the webinar concluded with our speakers sharing some practical tips with the audience on how to participate in this process and how to make their voices heard, so that the value that pathology can bring to integrated care systems is clear to everyone involved.
Delegates found the webinar to be valuable and insightful as demonstrated through the feedback received from attendees who rated it 4 out of 5 stars and said they had a much better understanding of the integrated care systems and how it will impact their service after the session:
“Excellent discussion to listen to. I have been thinking about most of these issues, but was not sure how to convey ideas to seniors - this has given me direction and inspiration!”
If you are a member of ACB you can listen to the recording of the webinar HERE, and if you are not already a member, consider joining our membership to benefit from future sessions like this one. Click HERE to join ACB.