This year's model

摘要

The government wants to see 10-1.5% of diagnostics carried out by private companies in order to achieve plurality of supply. But what does the government really know about the efficiency of the diagnostic services that are already carried out by private organisations when compared to the NHS? And has speed of delivery of result to the patient, and the start times for subsequent treatment been fully taken into account? Let's hope they are fully explored by the Independent Review of NHS Pathology Services.Thanks to skiHs training, staff dedication and improved diagnostic technologies, Health Minister Lord Warner was able to praise pathology as he announced the review on 2 November 2005: "Up to 70% of all patient diagnoses depend on pathology but the importance of pathology services to patient care is too often underestimated." But, what he didn't say, is that treatment regimes are also underpinned by pathology, by monitoring a patient's progress throughout their journey along the care pathway.