Diagnostics North East Annual Conference 2025
Diagnostics in healthcare 2035 – where will we be and how will we get there?”
On Friday 3rd October 2025, Diagnostics North East hosted its biggest conference yet at The Catalyst, Newcastle. More than 250 delegates from the NHS, academia, and industry gathered for a buzzing, high-energy day of collaboration and insight — exploring how innovation will shape the future of diagnostics.
Aligned with the NHS 10-Year Plan and UK Life Sciences Strategy, the event tackled the vital question: “Diagnostics in Healthcare 2035 – where will we be, and how will we get there?”
Showcasing the North East
The day opened with a celebration of the region’s world-class infrastructure and expertise. Rob Hamilton (Assistant Director Economic Strategy, North East Combined Authority) led a showcase of the North East’s thriving diagnostics, MedTech, and life sciences ecosystem, highlighting its central role in regional growth.
Case studies followed from Microplate Dx and Promptly Health, demonstrating the power of collaboration in action:
Dr Stuart Hannah, Ally Longmuir (Microplate Dx)
Microplate Dx
Microplate Dx presented its RapidPlate™ technology for antibiotic prescribing in urinary tract infections, developed in partnership with the NIHR HRC. With 1.27 million annual deaths linked to antimicrobial resistance, the team showed how clinical collaboration, patient engagement, and economic analysis are vital to adoption.
Promptly Health shared how partnerships with Newcastle Hospitals and Novartis are using secure, privacy-preserving data to improve real-world evidence and patient outcomes.
Pedro Santos – Promptly Health
Dr Jonathan Loukes (Novartis)
Innovation in action – The Great North Healthcare Alliance
A new feature for 2025, the Great North Healthcare Alliance Innovation Zone, showcased the region’s collective strengths through hands-on demonstrations. Delegates explored the latest technologies — from virtual reality headsets, drones, and pathology demos to point-of-care cholesterol testing and even a robotic dog (“Clive”) used in logistics. The interactive space captured the energy and creativity that define the region’s innovation landscape.
Industry Leadership and Insight
After coffee, the session “The three shifts of the NHS” gave our industry partners the spotlight.
Solventum discussed the journey from analogue to digital, highlighting a successful collaboration with Newcastle Hospitals to advance thrombosis diagnostics.
Roche explored the move from sickness to prevention, building on its 2023 Memorandum of Understanding with Diagnostics North East to strengthen NHS–industry partnerships.
The session concluded with a panel discussion chaired by Dr Ashley Price (Director, NIHR Commercial Research Delivery Centre), exploring how diagnostics can be embedded within community settings and how research networks can bridge primary and secondary care.
How do we get there?
In the afternoon, Dame Professor Sue Hill set the scene on the vital role of diagnostics in the NHS 10-Year Plan, followed by Professor Sir John Burn’s energised session, “Genomics: Discovery to Effective Care”.
Sir John shared the story of the MSI Plus assay development, reflecting a fantastic partnership across the NHS and academia. His talk also highlighted that advances in technology will continue to advance diagnostics, with England at the forefront of moving genomics into routine care. With short read sequencing remaining our key technology, variant interpretation was flagged as opportunity for innovation.
Breakout sessions, led by the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre, provided practical insights into care pathway analysis, while NorthFutures presented an overview of digital health partnerships across the North East and North Cumbria.
Prof Abi Durrant, NortHFutures
NIHR HealthTech Research Centre
The future
In the day’s final session, Dr Angela Douglas MBE (President, BIVDA) delivered a forward-looking talk on how BIVDA will help deliver both the NHS 10-Year Plan and the Life Sciences Sector Vision. She addressed key challenges — regulatory complexity, workforce shortages, and cost pressures — and emphasised the UK’s need to maintain agility, data quality, and collaboration to compete globally.
Dr Seshasailam Venkateswaran (ARREST-AMR) highlighted the UK’s 20-year vision to tackle antimicrobial resistance through transdisciplinary networks and fit-for-purpose detection tools.
The conference closed on a high with Dr Jonathan O’Halloran, who delivered an engaging and candid account of growing a diagnostics company in the North East — a story that underscored both the opportunities and challenges of innovation in the UK market.
Event summary
Mhairi Anderson, Operations Manager, Diagnostics North East, said:
“The buzz at this year’s event was incredible! As our biggest and most ambitious conference to date, the energy in the room from start to finish was testament to our fantastic exhibitors, a strong and relevant agenda, and our engaged delegates. We’re hugely grateful to our sponsors and the regional teams who brought this event to life.”
The BIVDA, MicroPlateDx, Promptly Health and Solventum Talks were recorded. You can view the recordings here.