Welcome to the July Bulletin.

At the beginning of this month, the government’s 10-Year Plan for the NHS was published. One of the ‘3 shifts’ it heralds for the NHS is the shift of healthcare from hospital to community. Accordingly, our theme for this issue is community and point-of-care testing – which has already advanced in leaps and bounds over the past few years, with potential to bring significant benefits for patient care. However, it is not without challenges and pitfalls, which must be properly navigated to ensure that safe, high-quality services for patients are maintained. We carry a collection of articles that I hope members will find useful as they tackle these challenges – for more details, see our theme introduction.

Also with patient safety in mind, the College has launched a new Patient Safety Steering Group. This is a significant step in strengthening the College’s role in promoting consistently excellent pathology services across the UK – read more here. Continuing with the patient perspective, some of you will be familiar with Lab Tests Online, a trusted source of patient-focused, expert-reviewed laboratory test information. The new editor of this resource, Alan Deacon, outlines his aims for the programme.

What does the College do well and where can it do better to help you? Last October, the College launched the Member Survey 2024. Over 1,700 members responded, providing valuable feedback. As a result, the College has developed 6 core commitments that address members’ needs, and will be working on these – find out more about the survey results and what’s next here.

On the International front, we have a report on a Global Health Partnership-funded project, which reviewed curricula, assessed training standards and provided mentorship and webinars to support chemical pathology training and workforce in Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria. We also have a round-up of the International team’s extensive range of webinars on antimicrobial resistance, genomics, academic career skills and more, produced in collaboration with global partners. The team was especially delighted that its Global Antimicrobial Resistance webinar series was shortlisted for a UKHSA Antibiotic Guardian Award. International Pathology Day 2025 will be celebrated with a global pathology workforce online event on Wednesday 5 November. 

Our Trainees Section, collated by Trainee Section Editor Ryan Clark, includes a discussion of the ways in which chemical pathology is involved in a diverse range of clinical areas, including metabolism, nutrition and diabetes – Agnieszka Jakubowska explains her top tips for trainees in this field. Matthew Waite explains the current state of chemical pathology training, together with the key training demands that provide chemical pathologists with the experience of laboratory and clinical environments that modern healthcare requires.

We have reviews of a number of recent online College events. Liz Hook reflects thoughtfully on the EDI network’s Race in Medicine webinar, held in May. A series of autopsy webinars hosted by College’s Death Investigation Committee, covering a wide range of issues, has been running since mid-2024: Abigail Sharp explains what the webinars, which you can still view online, offer. Pamela Kelly, Chair of the Veterinary Pathology SAC, provides an update on our veterinary pathology webinar series, which covers topics including post-mortem examinations, canine and feline respiratory cytology, and zoological epidemiology.

The 4th annual medical examiners conference was held online in May and was attended by over 250 delegates, the majority of whom were medical examiners and medical examiner officers. The content was wide-ranging, from national updates to discussion of commonly encountered challenges – we carry a review of that event from Suzy Lishman; while Tim Lang reports from the 17th International Congress in Paediatric Laboratory Medicine Satellite meeting, held in mid-May in Brussels.

Although we’re experiencing a summer heatwave as I write, and November feels very distant, it’s not too early to start planning for National Pathology Week (NPW), the annual celebration of pathology, when we highlight the important contribution pathologists make to healthcare. Penny Fletcher has an update on the College’s plans. Wherever you are, why not get creative and organise your own event for NPW?

I hope everyone finds something of interest in this issue. As ever, if you have comments or suggestions for content, please do get in touch.

For all those travelling either near or far – and those staying at home – here’s hoping you find a chance to relax and refresh on a well-earned summer break.

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