Modernisation of infection diagnostics – a focus on UTIs

To mark World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on AMR invited parliamentarians to meet with clinicians, patient advocates, researchers and diagnostic innovators to discuss how better testing can transform care for common infections such as urinary tract infections (UTIs). Every year, UTIs alone drive over 10 million GP appointments and cost the NHS more than £600 million, yet diagnostic tools remain decades out of date, with the widely used dipstick test still in use more than 50 years on, despite known limitations. These delays and inaccuracies have real consequences for patient safety and contribute to rising antibiotic resistance.

Parliamentarians heard directly from Kelly Studwick, a patient advocate whose repeated UTI misdiagnoses and ineffective treatments inspired her to train as a nurse, as well as from Sysmex, who demonstrated their Longitude Prize-winning PA-100 AST rapid testing system. Abigail Moore (pictured with the Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Rt. Hon. Stuart Andrew MP), a GP working in care homes, emphasised the challenges of diagnosing UTIs in older people and highlighted the potential of rapid diagnostics to support targeted treatment and reduce unnecessary antibiotics.

The APPG on AMR used the event to renew its call for the Government to appoint a National Infection Diagnostics Lead who is capable of cutting through red tape and fast-tracking innovation into NHS pathways, just as was achieved during the COVID-19 response.