A range of health tests available to purchase insupermarkets, including for male fertility and menopause, are inaccurate and unsuitable, studies have recently suggested with experts concerned around their suitability and usability, with many tests requiring users to test and interpret results for themselves. The need for greater regulation was emphasised by the study, in addition to information and data that support claims of accuracy.
The shift of diagnostic testing closer to the community and the patient is a direction indicated by the 10-year health plan and which empowers patients to become more involved in their own healthcare. Such testing needs however to be appropriate (clinically indicated and useful) and using tests/devices that are regulated and of sufficient quality.
Direct to consumer testing, chosen and carried out by patients and pushed by the private/commercial sector remains largely unclear when such issues around quality, regulation and appropriteness are considered. There are significant risks to patients when poor quality tests are carried out inappropriately, with both false reassurance and unncessary knock-on consequences for the NHS to repeat tests or take additional action.
Vitamin D tests, in particular are very much overused across the UK, with hundreds of millions of pounds spent every year within the NHS on both testing and prescriptions for vitamin D supplements. Encouraging patients to do more testing at home can only add to this unnecessary burden, especially if the quality of such tests cannot be relied upon.'
Dr Bernie Croal President
Link to full article: Direct-to-consumer self-tests sold in the UK in 2023: cross sectional review of regulation and evidence of performance | The BMJ
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