Wed 5 Mar 2025 09:00-17:00
Birmingham City Football Ground, 6 CPD hours

No longer the forgotten service, POCT is revolutionising patient care and transforming pathways both in and outside of hospital settings. Join the conversation with like-minded POCT colleagues from across the country as you navigate the tough questions on ensuring quality, keeping up with high demand and developing new services that are in line with national initiatives. Breath energy into your work by taking inspiration from services that are delivering resilient, new POCT pathways, and take-home practical ideas to drive forward your own service.

Another event of interest: Risk Management Strategies for ISO 15189, Online Course

POCT National Networking Forum 2025
Face-to-face 6 CPD hours £49+VAT

Bringing POCT professionals and industry together

Take one day out to share experiences and insights into the national strategy, quality standards and innovative pathways. Discover new ways of working, be motivated by other services and share your challenges, in a supportive POCT community of likeminded professionals. Dedicate one day to:

  • Updating your understanding on how GIRFT is working to validate new POCT devices
  • Boosting your confidence for your next UKAS inspection by learning from other services
  • Understanding what the new ISO 15189:2022 actually means for POCT from an accredited team
  • Becoming motivated by hearing about new pathways and the practicalities of how they have been implemented
  • Discovering the outcomes from a brand-new ARI pilot scheme that aims to tackle infection outside of hospitals
  • Creating a successful business plan that ensures that your service is well funded and future proofed
  • Evaluating the national picture and taking key learning from other devolved nations
  • Developing a rapid testing, 24/7 day a week service in emergency departments
  • Learning how others have tackled connectivity challenges as work diversifies into different settings

Stay abreast of advancements in POCT

This unique event will enable you to meet industry providers and learn how to strike the balance between pushing forward into the next phase whilst improving on existing processes. Benefit from:

  • Building networks: gain access to POCT professionals and thought leaders to be a part of a wider community of peers for support, advice and guidance
  • Professional learning: discover national updates, evidenced learnings and real-world examples
  • Facilitated discussion sessions: identify innovative approaches for enhancing your pathways and improving your service delivery

With thanks to our sponsor

SBK would like to thank BHR Biosynex for sponsoring this event.

And to our exhibitors

SBK would also like to thank QuidelOrtho, Sysmex, Sterilab, Una Health and Katalyst Diagnostics for exhibiting this event.

Invitation to sponsor or exhibit

If you would like to sponsor or exhibit at this conference, please email Sarah Kemm or call Sarah on 01732 897788 to find out about all the engagement and branding opportunities available.

9:00
Registration, networking and refreshments
Sponsoring today is BHR Biosynex and exhibiting are QuidelOrtho, Sysmex, Sterilab, Una Health and. Please do take this time to visit their stands to find out more about their products and services.
9:30
Chair’s opening remarks
Dr Martin Myers MBE, Senior Clinical Advisor, Pathology at GIRFT, Consultant Clinical Biochemist and Associate Divisional Medical Director for Pathology, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
National update
9:40
GIRFT Update: Data supported decision making to ensure a safe and effective future for POCT
  • Utilising the ‘Blue Book’: a validation tool to ensure data supported decision making for tests
  • Tier 1: GIRFT planning for pathology delivery in the community
  • Ensuring effective governance to enable effective, safe, POCT in the community for the future
Dr Martin Myers MBE, Senior Clinical Advisor, Pathology at GIRFT, Consultant Clinical Biochemist and Associate Divisional Medical Director for Pathology, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Achieving POCT accreditation
10:10
Case study: Becoming an accredited service and achieving ISO15189:2022
  • Practical guidance to understand how we can incorporate the new standards
  • Taking accreditation forward: building and developing the service under new ISO standards
  • Exploring our journey to achieving accreditation for our service: what did we learn?
10:40
Questions and answers with your speakers
10:50
Sponsored presentation and Q&A opportunity
If you are an POCT provider and would like to be part of this day, and give a sponsored presentation to this audience, please contact sarah.kemm@sbk-healthcare.co.uk for further information
11:00
Refreshments, networking break and meet the exhibitors
Enabling service transformation
11:20
Case study: Delivering an ARI Respiratory Hub in the North West
  • Developing an acute community respiration hub to keep infection out of the hospital
  • Targeting infection in the community and reducing A&E attendance
  • Sharing outcome data and demonstrating the impact of the ARI respiratory hub
Katie Moss, Programme Director, Greater Manchester Diagnostics Network and Chair of the North West Point of Care Strategy Group
11:50
Case study: Ensuring service resilience and funding for community diagnostic and virtual wards
  • Understanding the service: exploring SOP and service delivery
  • How to charge across and pay for services in the community
  • Securing funding and ensuring resilience for the future running of the service
12:20
Questions and answers with your speakers
12:30
Interactive discussion: Ensuring quality and effective clinical governance
  • Where is your service on the journey to accreditation?
  • What are you doing to ensure effective clinical governance without CQC inspection?
  • What would effective quality monitoring look like? How do we ensure quality in our lab?
12:50
Interactive discussion feedback: Ensuring quality and effective clinical governance
1:00
Refreshments, networking lunch and meet the sponsors
POCT across the UK
2:00
Wales’s National POCT Strategy: Setting up and developing point-of-care testing services
  • Assessing the impact of new POCT programmes, best practice, and quality and safety issues
  • Achievements to date: developments in quality control, standards and governance models
Annette Thomas, Consultant Clinical Biochemist, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board
2:20
POCT-for-Scot: Shared experiences of the Scottish Network
  • Opportunities and vision: creating a network to share information across health boards
  • Looking forward: potential impact of shared innovations, educational materials and networking
Jayne Mckay, Point of Care Manager, NHS Tayside and Director of POCT- for-Scot Director
2:40
England POCT National Committee: Developing POCT for 2025 and beyond
  • Exploring national initiatives and governance for POCT
  • Moving towards investigating and delivering diagnoses in the community
3:00
Panel question and answers with your speakers
3:20
Refreshments, networking break and meet the exhibitors
Developing connected POCT pathways
3:40
Case study: Lessons learned from delivering a connected virtual ward service
  • Establishing a multi-organisational model to enable seamless virtual ward services
  • Delivering a connected service to aid clinical decision-making, avoid unnecessary hospital admissions and improve outcomes
  • Evaluating the service: demonstrating the value and impact of virtual wards
4:10
Case study: Provision of POCT and rapid testing in the ED lab
  • Understanding the delivery a rapid POCT emergency department (ED) lab
  • Practical insights into changes in the patient pathway and analysing the wider benefits
  • Ensuring complete connectivity with patient files and EPR systems
Robert Bolton, Point of Care Coordinator, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
4:40
Questions and answers with your speaker
4:50
Chair’s closing remarks
5:00
Close of day

Your confirmed speakers to date


Job Title:
Senior Clinical Advisor and Consultant Clinical Biochemist and Associate Divisional Medical Director for Pathology
Organisation
Pathology at GIRFT and Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Biography

Dr Myers is a consultant clinical biochemist at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (LTH), Royal Preston Hospital, and associate divisional medical director for pathology, having previously been clinical director of pathology for 14 years. Dr Myers is also the lead scientist for the trust.


Dr Myers has taken a lead role in a continuous program of pathology redesign, improving the clinical and operational effectiveness of pathology delivery while improving productivity.  His interests include the use of automation, point of care testing and informatics in improving the quality of the diagnostic process and redesigning pathology delivery. This spans pathology delivery using state of the art robotics and advanced technology through to the use of point of care devices used anywhere.  He chairs the trust Point of Care Testing Committee. The “Laboratory Anywhere” concept including “Lab in a Box” models delivers diagnostics in a variety of locations both inside and outside the hospital ensuring that diagnostics are embedded in the patient pathway, rather than remote from the patient.  He is involved in several projects for the direct delivery of diagnostics to BAME communities and vulnerable groups and is working with the NHSE chief scientific officer’s team on the delivery of point of care diagnostics in patients with learning difficulties and patients experiencing mental health issues. He has also been involved in translating NICE diagnostic recommendations into service delivery models.


Dr Myers has worked on many clinical pathways where the introduction of novel decision diagnostics has improved the patient pathway and resulted in reduction in total pathway costs.


Job Title:
Point of Care manager for Diagnostic Laboratories
Organisation
NHS Tayside
Biography

Jayne first qualified in November 2000 as Haematology MLSO and started her Point of Care journey with INR’s in the community. Today she is the Point of Care manager for Diagnostic Laboratories at NHS Tayside on the east coast of Scotland, a post she has held since July 2020. Her remit is to provide laboratory oversight and mitigate risk within POC schemes ensuring that results can be used confidently in effective and efficient patient management pathways. This includes schemes both within hospital environments and the community, encompassing laboratory diagnostic specialities of Haematology, Biochemistry and Virology.

She co-founded POCT – FOR – SCOT LTD which is a website / Instagram / Face book community to share learning, provide support and push for regulation and strategic developments of point of care.  

Jayne is an advocate for ensuring Point of Care is used in the correct environment with innovative and effective patient management pathways that allow the right result to be used for positive patient gain. She champion’s this throughout her trust and the wider Scottish network.

Jayne currently sits of the specialist advisory panel for point of care at the IBMS and is part of a short life working group in Scotland advocating for point of care with strong policies and strategic goals to support the frail infrastructure of a NHS requiring innovation to survive the future.


Job Title:
Senior Clinical Advisor, Pathology at GIRFT, Consultant Clinical Biochemist and Associate Divisional Medical Director for Pathology
Organisation
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Biography

Dr Myers is a consultant clinical biochemist at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (LTH), Royal Preston Hospital, and associate divisional medical director for pathology, having previously been clinical director of pathology for 14 years. Dr Myers is also the lead scientist for the trust.

Dr Myers has taken a lead role in a continuous program of pathology redesign, improving the clinical and operational effectiveness of pathology delivery while improving productivity.  His interests include the use of automation, point of care testing and informatics in improving the quality of the diagnostic process and redesigning pathology delivery. This spans pathology delivery using state of the art robotics and advanced technology through to the use of point of care devices used anywhere.  He chairs the trust Point of Care Testing Committee. The “Laboratory Anywhere” concept including “Lab in a Box” models delivers diagnostics in a variety of locations both inside and outside the hospital ensuring that diagnostics are embedded in the patient pathway, rather than remote from the patient.  He is involved in several projects for the direct delivery of diagnostics to BAME communities and vulnerable groups and is working with the NHSE chief scientific officer’s team on the delivery of point of care diagnostics in patients with learning difficulties and patients experiencing mental health issues. He has also been involved in translating NICE diagnostic recommendations into service delivery models.

Dr Myers has worked on many clinical pathways where the introduction of novel decision diagnostics has improved the patient pathway and resulted in reduction in total pathway costs.


Job Title:
Programme Director
Organisation
Greater Manchester Diagnostics Network and Chair of the North West Point of Care Strategy Group
Biography

Katie Moss is the Greater Manchester Diagnostic Network Programme Director with over 24 years’ experience of working within various NHS diagnostic and senior management roles and is now responsible for leading and directing the portfolio of the Greater Manchester Diagnostic Network.

After graduating with a 2:1 BSc in Biomedical Science, Katie was appointed as an NHS Trainee Biomedical Scientist where she worked and specialised in Microbiology for over 14 years.  In that time, Katie went onto to complete a master’s in biomedical science and management Training Certificate before deciding upon a change of career.  Katie went on to successfully undertake roles within Clinical Audit, Transformation and Programme Management whilst developing her educational achievements with the completion of various programme management and leadership qualifications.

Katie is now an influential and highly recognised member of the NHS diagnostic community who has proven experience of delivering complex transformation programmes, establishing multi stakeholder networks including the establishment of both the Greater Manchester Imaging and Pathology Networks and developing short- and long-term strategic business models. 

Katie has a strong passion for diagnostic innovation and improving patient care through the adoption of new technologies and out of hospital diagnostics which support faster, real-time diagnosis and enable patients to have a greater ability to manage their own health and wellbeing.

Katie is the current chair of the Northwest Point of Care Strategy Group and is also responsible for leading the establishment of the Greater Manchester Physiological Sciences Network.

Outside of work, Katie is a mum to one, wife to one and dog parent to two bonkers spaniels.  She often spends her down time, walking the dogs, playing netball and being a real foodie, she loves to eat out and experience different cuisine.


Job Title:
Point of Care Coordinator
Organisation
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Biography



Job Title:
Consultant Clinical Biochemist
Organisation
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board
Biography

How to get involved: share your insights as a speaker

Do you have a case study you would like to present? Are you interested in sharing your perspective with your peers? We would love the opportunity to discuss presenting opportunities with you.

Please email the Conference Producer, Vanessa Pearce who would be pleased to talk to you about how you can get involved, or call 01732 897788.

Pricing structure

  • £49+VAT - one NHS or Public Sector Place

Commercial companies are also invited to sponsor this day. Please email Sarah Kemm for further details.

Venue details

Venue name: Birmingham City Football Club

Address: Cattell Rd, St. Andrew's at Knighthead Park, Birmingham, B9 4RL

Tel: 0121 772 0101

Email: reception@bcfc.com

What happens once you have made your booking?

Once you have booked your place, SBK Healthcare will correspond with you using the email address you provided at the time of booking and you will be sent a formal confirmation. If you have not received this within 48 hours of making your booking please check your junk folder and then email bookings@sbk-healthcare.co.uk or call 01732 897788. .

Approximately one week prior to the conference you will be sent an email which will include all the final details for attendance on the day, including a final agenda and venue information.

Please inform us by writing to bookings@sbk-healthcare.co.uk if you have any special dietary or other requirements.

If your funding has not yet been secured or you would like to hold your place with no obligation, you can reserve your place with us. Please email the reservations team at SBK Healthcare with your details:

  • Booking contact: name, job title, department, email and telephone number
  • Event(s) to reserve for: title and date
  • Delegate details (for each delegate): name, job title, department, email and telephone number
  • Organisation details: name and address

Alternatively you can make a confirmed booking by emailing the above information to the bookings team 

Certification of attendance

A certificate for Continuing Professional Development will be given to every fully registered participant who completes the course, as a record of your continuing professional training and development.

Registration fees

You will be sent an instant payment option or invoice on registration. Your payment is required in advance. If your fee has not been received prior to the event, and you are not able to provide a PO or proof of payment, you will be asked to make a credit or debit card payment on the day.

Modify registration

To let us know if your details are not correct when you have already registered, please email the bookings team.

Cancellations and substitutions

A full refund of fees will be made only for cancellations received within the first 48 hours of the booking being made. Notice of cancellation must be received in writing by emailing the bookings team at SBK Healthcare. Should you need to cancel your registration after this date, the registration fee remains payable in its entirety although a substitution will be accepted and conference documentation will be provided. Substitution attendees for delegates unable to attend after registering are acceptable at any time.

Event changes

It may be necessary for reasons beyond the control of the conference organisers to alter the content, speakers or the timing of the programme. We will endeavour to keep you abreast of such changes but any unavoidable change to the format will not constitute a reason to refund the fee. Should the event be postponed, we will endeavour to reschedule the event. If, for reasons beyond the control of the conference organiser, the event is cancelled, a full refund will be made. We do not accept any liability for any incurred costs resulting from a postponement or cancellation.

Privacy notice

To view the details on how your data is being collected and used, please view our Privacy policy

Expected attendees

With over 80 healthcare professionals attending in 2024, this national forum is not one to be missed! Dedicated to driving forward your POCT service through national guidance, case study presentations and interactive discussions. By attending this annual conference, you will have the opportunity to connect with:

  • POCT Co-Ordinators
  • Clinical Scientists and Biomedical Scientists
  • Point of Care Operational Leads
  • Point of Care Testing Managers

Past attendee feedback

Last held in 2024 in Birmingham on Wednesday 24th April 2024 at the Birmingham City Football Club, this vital face-to-face networking event was described as:

“Excellent! Always open and full of new friends, a supportive community in POCT. Excellently managed day and delivered well and to time”

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

“Very informative and great opportunity to meet people working in the same field and sharing our thoughts”

South West London Pathology

“Very thought-provoking and being able to see variation in the maturity of POCT throughout the UK very useful”

University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS

“Good, well-organised meeting. Particularly enjoyed the opportunities to discuss topics at a table”

Birmingham Quality UK NEQAS

“Good content covering issues with the development of POCT – but really good to see other Trusts also having same issues knowing we can work together”

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust

“Really inspiring and informative – far exceeded my expectations”

University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust

View further comments on SBK Healthcare events on Trust Pilot.

With thanks to our sponsor

BHR BIOSYNEX is a market leading company in point-of-care healthcare diagnostics, enabling appropriate tests to be moved closer from the lab to the patient, to better manage and treat conditions.

With thanks to our exhibitors

      



Why sponsor this SBK Healthcare Forum

Our role at SBK Healthcare is to bring industry together with healthcare professionals so that you can educate and inform your audience. These trail-blazing forums offer dedicated presentations, Q&A, networking and discussion time, each sponsor will be fully immersed into the event and able to effectively engage with your NHS audience.

Interested in having your own event, managed by us?

SBK Healthcare also provides in-house forums. Working closely with you as the client we can research, produce, market and deliver the conference or online forum that best suits the audience and meets your goals.

Reach out today

If you would like more information on our sponsorship options an in-house forum or if you wish to discuss your needs and what solutions may be appropriate for your business, please contact: 

Sarah Kemm 

Contact: 01732 897788 

Email: sarah.kemm@sbk-healthcare.co.uk