Visit to Stago

   Stago, a company supplying medical diagnostic products, invited me to visit them in Theale. Whilst there I met several of their staff and a representative of their trade association, the British In Vitro Diagnostics Association.

   The Trade body stressed to me the importance of good diagnostics to early discovery of a medical problem. Early diagnosis can mean more effective treatment, and may mean cheaper and less invasive treatment as well. Health grounds and NHS cost efficiency grounds point to sensible use of diagnostics. They wish to improve the NHS procurement process. I stressed that changes to it are possible: they  need to demonstrate improvement for patients and taxpayers and be fair to the various companies in the industry as a whole.

      Stago is the UK subsidiary of a privately owned French company specialising in blood testing.

2 Comments

  1. Antisthenes
    August 13, 2012

    French GP’s use blood testing considerably that is my experience at least. Their testing is quick and efficient the results being handed (posted) to the patient the next day who then takes it to the GP. Eight years ago a blood test help my French doctor diagnose and cure a condition I had at that time that had plagued me for the previous twenty years. Prior to that I had been under the NHS and in all those twenty years despite numerous visits to consultants and hospitals my illness had never been diagnosed so of course never treated. My doctor still sends me every six months for a blood test.

    The French healthcare costs a little more as a percentage of GDP than the NHS but that appears to guarantee that the aged are care for as much as anyone else. The funding and provision is quite different to the NHS some examination of the French system may give pointers as to how the NHS can be improved.

    1. lifelogic
      August 14, 2012

      Certain good diagnostics is not something I have seen in the NHS you often need several visits to the GP and specialist before any real diagnostic tests are done at all. I suspect due to NHS rationing systems – but as they say this can be counter productive.

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