2024 has been a pivotal year for healthcare and the field of pathology, both in the UK and internationally. Rising costs, workforce shortages, key elections across the world and the rapid advancement of AI and other technologies, have all contributed to a changing healthcare landscape.
2024 has also been a significant year for the College. Dr Bernie Croal saw through the first year of his College Presidency, coinciding with the development and publication of a new 5-year College strategy that will take us through to 2029. Bernie has recorded the following thank you message to College members, highlighting some key achievements made this year. All of this work was made possible through the support and dedication of our members.
Our key achievements in 2024
Some of the College's key achievements in 2024 include:
Aim 1 – Lead excellence in pathology practice
- collecting robust workforce data used to support the Darzi review and a new College workforce strategy, due to be published in the next few months
- submitting a response to help shape the UK government’s 10-year health plan
- publishing the Patient Safety and Quality Strategy 2024-2029, setting out our vision for excellence in patient safety and pathology services
- publishing several policy reports and clear health priorities for the new UK government (and specifically Northern Ireland) to advocate for the pathology workforce
- the introduction of statutory reform for the medical examiner service, long campaigned for by the College
- delivering our 2024 Summer School and pathology careers webinar series to inspire the next generation of pathologists
Aim 2 – Promote the highest standards of pathology education and training
- assessing over 2,200 candidates across Part 1, Part 2 and Certificates and Diplomas over the last 12 months, ensuring excellent standards in training and assessment
- creating more accessible learning content including specialty-focused webinars and a series on global antimicrobial resistance
- receiving a High Commendation for the Pathology Portal at the HSJ Digital Awards 2024, as well as the Margaret Kenwright award
Aim 3 – Foster a sense of pride and belonging among our members
- delivering the Member Survey 2024 to gather data on member satisfaction and areas of improvement
- setting up a bespoke online community for medical examiner and medical examiner officer members of the College
Aim 4 – Be the authoritative and trusted partner for pathology
- delivering our first Industry Leaders’ Forum in April 2024 to foster future collaboration between pathologists and pathology-related industry actors
- hosting the inaugural Celtic Summit with representatives from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to discuss pathology service challenges in each nation
- collaborating with the Pathology Alliance to coordinate and deliver events for National Pathology Week and International Pathology Day
Aim 5 - Be a well-resourced sustainable and inclusive organisation
- launching the 2024-29 College Strategy, identifying 5 key focus areas to address the challenges ahead for the College and our members
- commencing our digital transformation project, which will involve significant upgrades of our CRM and CMS systems to improve our digital member services
What we’re working towards in 2025
As 2024 draws to a close and 2025 beckons, we find many of our services stretched but still managing to deliver vital diagnostics and clinical services across healthcare. We have to be hopeful that the necessary staffing, equipment and organisational structures can evolve to deal with the increasing and changing workload that we are likely to face in the coming years – the College will continue to be very important in building this case and ensuring our professional voice is heard, understood and acted upon.
Dr Bernie Croal President
With the continued support of our members, some of what the College will be working on in 2025 includes:
- publishing and delivering a new workforce strategy, providing better data and communications output, and a focus on diagnostic stewardship
- advocating for pathology via the Government's multi-year spending review, the 10 Year Health Plan in Spring 2025 and the updated NHS workforce strategy due to be published in summer next year
- working towards the creation of pathology priorities documents for the devolved nation elections in 2026
- analysing the results of the Member Survey 2024 to inform College products and services development, and to improve the overall experience of our members
- the continuation of the digital transformation project to significantly upgrade the College’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Content Management System (CMS) systems
- further developing industry partnerships to deliver webinars, workshops and events that benefit members and the wider profession.
If you have any questions, please get in touch with the Member Engagement and Support team at [email protected].
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