Events in 2023

ISO15189:2022 has undergone a major revision and was release in December 2022. David was one of the core drafting team responsible for the latest version and will discuss how the document was developed and agreed by the international community, why the changes were made and the purpose of the new standard.

Areas covered in this lecture will include the change in the format of the standard, why Point of Care testing is now part of the main assessment, if applicable and the increased empathies on risk and patient welfare.ISO15189 was revised and released in December.

Emerging Issues in Medical Mycology

Chronic lung infection is the leading cause of morbidity and early mortality for people with cystic fibrosis (pwCF). Microbiological surveillance to detect lung pathogens is recommended as best practise in CF patient care. Here we studied pathogen detection in forty pwCF over several years. We found that microbiological culture, the diagnostic gold standard, was significantly disparate to targeted culture-independent approaches for detection and determination of chronic infection status of two important pathogens in CF. Pathogen detection was significantly lower by culture and consequently infection status was also misclassified in the majority of cases.

In particular, the extent of chronic infection by both Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus not realised with culture was striking. Our findings have implications for the development of infection and clinical care of pwCF. Future longitudinal studies with greater patient numbers will be needed to establish the full extent of the clinical implications indicated from this study.

This presentation will explain the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) return to practice process and the support offered by NHS England’s National Return to Practice programme to return skilled professionals back into the NHS workforce.

This presentation will cover the below content:

HCPC requirements to return to the register
Routes to returning to the HCPC register
NHS England’s Return to Practice programme support to returners and organisations and systems
Returner registration on the NHS England Return to Practice programme
Considerations for organisations wanting to support a returner to practice.

National Point-of-Care Strategy

An overview of Red Cell Immunohaematology (RCI), the services offered and how we fit in within the wider healthcare system.

Example cases starting with single specificity through to complex antibody identification using a variety of techniques. Discussing the need for consultant input when serology cannot be resolved and what happens next.

We will briefly cover duties beyond serology performed as a biomedical scientist and how these fit in nationally as well as locally.

Finishing on the progression routes through RCI, NHSBT and the wider transfusion community.

Delegates will learn:

What Gestational trophoblastic disease is, including the different types and how they arise
How to handle a sample at the dissection bench including comparison with normal products of conception
How to distinguish between the different types of disease and mimics
What a diagnosis of gestational trophoblastic disease means for the patient
What the malignant entities of Gestational Trophoblastic Disease include

Androgens are the naturally occurring or synthetic hormones which can increase lean body mass and decrease fat mass and are the most effective and widely abused ergogenic drugs in sport. The detection methodologies for the exogenous steroids is mostly based on the gas/liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry, while detection of the exogenous administration of endogenous steroids requires more complex methodologies including the longitudinal monitoring of individual urinary steroid concentrations/ratios and isotope ratio mass spectrometry. Although, urine has always been the first choice of sample matrix to detect androgens in sports. However, blood matrix is also now paving its way towards a complementary matrix for detection of androgens in sports. Dried blood spots (DBS) analysis is the latest tool in sports drug testing. DBS testing has advantages in the collection, shipment, and storage compared to traditional urine and blood-based procedures.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has recently introduced DBS testing as an implementation for routine doping analysis during the recent Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo and Beijing. DBS samples can be obtained with relatively little training and require minimal invasion at the collection site. A variety of devices based on micro-lancet and micro-needle approaches have been applied in the DBS collection.

Most androgens in DBS are stable at room temperature, so there are no specific requirements during transport. Also, considering the small size and weight of DBS, the DBS-based technique is more cost-effective compared to urine or blood samples. However, as a microscale sample, DBS require more sensitive and accurate analytical methods. The Drug Control Centre, King’s College London (a WADA accredited lab), we are currently investigating the use of DBS testing in our systematic regular analysis as a new methodology.

This presentation will discuss the current situation, perspectives, and challenges of implementing DBS testing for detecting androgens in sports.

Myositis

Delivery of a virtual ward in East Kent: A clinical overview