New era for diagnostic devices could save millions
Cheap devices to diagnose STIs could be available via community
pharmacies |
Within the next decade, pharmacies could help save the NHS millions of pounds a year by stocking diagnostic devices for use at home for detecting sexually transmitted diseases, a Department
of Trade and Industry report suggests.
The report looks at the threats posed by infectious diseases over the
next 10–25 years and examines how they could be managed. “A
cheap self-diagnostic device to test sexually transmitted diseases, available
from pharmacies in the future, could enable many people who would not
normally visit a
genito-urinary clinic to test themselves at home,” the report suggests. “This
could bring testing and diagnosis to a large section of the population
who have asymptomatic diseases, which, left undiagnosed, could lead to
severe health complications and costly treatment.”
The report then provides examples — “designed to provoke
thought, rather than being predictions” — to illustrate the
possible benefits of improved detection, identification and monitoring.
For instance, it suggests that, in 2015 “a hand-held diagnostic
device for a range of sexually transmitted diseases saves the NHS £135m
per year for chlamydia and gonorrhoea alone”.
The report also suggests that detection, identification and monitoring
systems developed in the next two decades might reduce the UK mortality
from an influenza pandemic by 10-fold and the health costs of a severe
acute respiratory syndrome outbreak by £230m.
However, the report warns that a number of potential pitfalls of diagnostic
devices need to be avoided. For instance, access by health care professionals
to diagnostic information needs to be maintained, waste generated by
these devices needs to be safely disposed and inappropriate self-treatment
by patients needs to be minimised.
The report also looks at which categories of new and emerging diseases
are likely to be of particular concern to the UK and sub-Saharan Africa
in the next 25 years and how these might be affected by climate change
over the coming 75 years. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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