§ Lord Clement-Jonesasked Her Majesty's Government:
What has been achieved as a result of the strategic review of pathology conducted by the Department of Health in 1995. [HL571]
§ Lord Hunt of Kings HeathTheStrategic Review of Pathology Services, published by the then NHS Executive in 1995, focused on key issues relating to the provision and commissioning of NHS pathology services. The review emphasised local decision-making and provided a number of possible models. In addition, it flagged up some of the ways in which anticipated advances in technology were likely to impact on the pathology services, for example, through improved communication with service users and better collaboration between services. The report was widely disseminated to NHS pathology services to consider, in the light of the recommendations made, how to maintain and develop high quality, cost-effective clinical services responsive to the needs of patients and users.
The NHS Plan, subsequently published in 1997, set out the vision for the NHS to offer people fast and convenient care delivered to a consistently high standard. This overtook the recommendations of the Strategic Review of Pathology Services. Where relevant, for example, on collaboration on service reconfiguration, appropriate access to 24-hour services, and developing guidance on specialised pathology, the recommendations have been implemented. The Department of Health recognised the critical role of pathology services in the effective treatment and care of patients, in protecting the public health and in national screening programmes. We also recognised the pressure on them to maintain quality in the face of increasing workloads and the challenges facing them of technological and scientific change. As part of our modernisation programme for the NHS, in 1999 we therefore established the pathology modernisation programme (PMP), a 10-year programme to modernise NHS pathology services.
The first three years of the PMP (from 1999–2000 to 2001–02) concentrated on capital investment to support service modernisation: £28 million capital funding was awarded to 39 demonstration projects for smaller-scale service reconfigurations; technology and IT upgrades; rationalisation of specialist services; and larger-scale reconfiguration projects to support the development of managed pathology networks.
In 2002 the PMP has developed and published for consultation draft guidance Pathology—the Essential 154WA Service for the NHS. We are currently considering the responses to the consultation and will publish final guidance, revised in the light of the views received, in 2003.