Today (12th December), the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has announced a specialist team to speed up the country’s ability to diagnose infectious diseases. Launched by UKHSA chief executive professor Dame Jenny Harries, the team — known as the Diagnostic Accelerator — aims to improve the speed that new and emerging tests like lateral flow tests (LFDs) and polymerase chain reaction tests (PCRs) can be used for a wider variety of pathogens.
Work is in progress to identity gaps in the UK’s abilities in diagnosing notable pathogens within prioritised viral and bacterial families.
UKHSA has already developed its own in-house test for a different pathogens such as avian influenza and mpox, but there is still a lack of commercially available tests on the UK market that could scale up rapid testing in case of pandemics or epidemics.
Dame Professor Jenny Harries, UKHSA chief executive, said: “We are working constantly to ensure the right defences are in place for when the UK faces the next pandemic threat. Having world leading testing and diagnostic infrastructure in place is a critical part of this.
“The Diagnostic Accelerator will help keep us at the forefront of innovation and ensuring that the UK is a step ahead when it comes to tackling a wide range of pandemic and epidemic threats.”
Dr Isabel Oliver, UKHSA chief scientific officer, said: “The Diagnostic Accelerator is a vital part of our pandemic and epidemic preparedness, ensuring we have the diagnostic capabilities and tests ready to go when new infectious diseases begin to threaten the safety of the country.
“As part of this, we will work with industry and other partners to ensure that diagnostic tests are rapidly available, to help us tackle the spread of disease faster and more effectively.
“We saw during the COVID-19 pandemic how important testing was for controlling and slowing the spread of the disease, and by focusing on speeding up the rollout of diagnostics and testing we can ensure we have a running start when dealing with the next threat to the UK’s health.”
