For those of you who are not FRCPath and/or do not get RCPath Newsletter, please see RCPath President's response/message below :

 

Standing up for pathology from Dr Suzy Lishman
Last week a letter was sent to all trust Chairs and CEOs from NHS Improvement instructing them to make financial savings by consolidating ‘back office and pathology services’, with proposals to be agreed by the end of July. I responded immediately to the letter and had the opportunity to raise the issue at a roundtable event at the House of Lords on Wednesday. Experience has shown that consolidation of services does not always deliver improvements in cost or quality. At a time when pathology is even more important than ever  for meeting health challenges such as early diagnosis of cancer, monitoring of long term conditions and realising the benefits of the 100,000 Genomes Project it should not be regarded as a back office function or easy target for cost-cutting. We will continue to raise our concerns and have invited NHS Improvement to meet at the earliest opportunity. If you have information that is in the public domain about the success or failure of consolidation of your local pathology services I would be very interested to hear from you.