Pathology and the NHS Five Year Forward View sets out five key priorities which will help address the widening gaps in the health of the population, quality of care and funding that the NHS Five Year Forward View identifies.

Dr Suzy Lishman, President of The Royal College of Pathologists said:

‘Pathology is at the heart of modern healthcare and is the foundation of disease prevention, high quality diagnosis and patient care. It has the potential to improve healthcare and deliver financial savings to ensure a cost-effective, more responsive, sustainable NHS but it cannot do this without urgent investment.

The introduction of  medical examiners, for example, is a vital patient safety initiative. We expect to see a clear commitment to funding a national system of medical examiners in the Comprehensive Spending Review.’

First proposed by The Shipman Inquiry in 2005, medical examiners would provide independent scrutiny of all deaths. This would provide answers for families, accurate statistics to inform future investment in health and identify trends in sub-standard care, enabling action to be taken at an early stage. No other patient safety measure will provide these benefits in such a cost-effective way.

The other recommendations set out in Pathology and the Five Year Forward View are:

• Molecular diagnostics services to be commissioned nationally to provide uniform, high-quality diagnosis of cancer and other conditions
• Fund, support and implement the National Laboratory Medicine Catalogue (NLMC) across the NHS to standardise requesting and reporting of pathology test results
• Roll out the Choosing Wisely campaign to support health professionals to have conversations with their patients about the value of test and treatments, enabling them to make informed choices
• Greater investment in training the pathology workforce of the future, with recognition of the increasing volume and complexity of the workload.