Biomedical Science Day 2020
Biomedical Science Day 2020 was an outstanding success. We were amazed by the great spirit and professionalism of our members. Due to social distancing and the nationwide lockdown, there were no laboratory tours or stands in foyers but that did not stop our innovative members from pulling out all the stops to take the public on virtual tours and provide informative videos.
The digital celebrations went on all day - providing the public with ever greater clarity about the role of the profession #BehindEveryTest in the wider healthcare context. There was a sense of excitement and pride in laboratories across the UK, as our members rightly celebrated their efforts on the frontline of COVID-19 testing and beyond.
On social media, we encouraged our members to use the hashtags #BiomedicalScienceDay2020 and #AtTheHeartOfHealthcare to promote their activities. On Twitter, the hashtag #AtTheHeartOfHealthcare was used 2,966 times and was in the top 10 UK Twitter trends from 8.30am all day, peaking at No. 4.
Today is #BiomedicalScienceDay2020 – so we're saying a big THANK YOU to the Biomedical Scientists, Clinical Scientists and laboratory staff #BehindEveryTest who work #AtTheHeartOfHealthcare analysing our samples! pic.twitter.com/O6lVvK27VX
— IBMS #AtTheHeartOfHealthcare (@IBMScience) June 11, 2020
IBMS President Allan Wilson kicked off the day with this message to our members:
IBMS President Allan Wilson has recorded a short message to share his thanks and wish our members #AtTheHeartOfHealthcare a happy #BiomedicalScienceDay2020. pic.twitter.com/WsX9BKqoaU
— IBMS #AtTheHeartOfHealthcare (@IBMScience) June 11, 2020
Biomedical Science Day also earned the attention of some big Twitter accounts, including Arlene Foster - First Minister of Northern Ireland:
Today is #BiomedicalScienceDay2020 – so let's say a big THANK YOU to the Biomedical Scientists, Clinical Scientists and laboratory staff #BehindEveryTest who work #AtTheHeartOfHealthcare
— Arlene Foster #We’llMeetAgain (@DUPleader) June 11, 2020
NHS England and NHS Improvement:
This #BiomedicalScienceDay2020 we want to say a huge THANK YOU to our biomedical scientists, clinical scientists and laboratory staff who have now completed over 1.5 million #COVID19 tests at NHS and @PHE_uk labs across the country! ?? #AtTheHeartOfHealthcare pic.twitter.com/z8HuALwjvT
— NHS England and NHS Improvement (@NHSEngland) June 11, 2020
Dame Sue Hill:
This #BiomedicalScienceDay2020 I want to thank all the biomedical & clinical scientists for the vital role they have played in tackling #coronavirus - it fills me with pride to see such extraordinary dedication in such extraordinary times. Thank you!??
— Prof Dame Sue Hill (@CSOSue) June 11, 2020
It fills me with pride to see such extraordinary dedication in such extraordinary times’ — @CSOsue thanks all biomedical scientists working in the NHS for their vital role in tackling the #coronavirus and supporting non-COVID19 patients. ?? #ThankYouNHS #BiomedicalScienceDay2020 pic.twitter.com/BOOcIGksqt
— NHS England and NHS Improvement (@NHSEngland) June 11, 2020
and Lord Bethell:
My utmost gratitude to our scientists, researchers and doctors on Biomedical Science Day!
— Lord Bethell (@JimBethell) June 11, 2020
So proud to be Minister of #Innovation (??) at a time when everyone pioneering innovative ways to test, monitor and treat #COVID-19 #BiomedicalScienceDay2020.
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On BBC Radio 2, biomedical scientists received three shout outs throughout the day, and others, such as BBC Radio Manchester had IBMS member Helen George on to describe her vital role in healthcare and to explain about the awareness day.
Across the UK, communications teams in hospitals and university laboratories handed their social media accounts over to their pathology staff and allowed them to celebrate and inform their followers about the skills and expertise involved in their practice. We lost count of the amount of wonderful and informative videos and digital tours from our members who were doing social media takeovers for their Trusts and Hospitals.
On Facebook there were lots of messages of support from Trusts, charities and other healthcare pages and our online community were active and posting pictures and videos for our competitions all day. Half a million people saw our posts, including our photo gallery, where we have compiled a large amount of the photos and competition entries. If you had your photo taken on the day, it's likely you will have ended up in there (or will do in the coming days).
In Scottish Parliament a motion was submitted by MSP Gil Paterson to ask that:
“Parliament recognises Biomedical Science Day on 11 June 2020: considers that, in the UK, biomedical scientists and laboratory staff play a key role in delivering high-quality pathology services that are the backbone of the NHS, including screening for, reporting on and monitoring all diseases and viruses: further understands that healthcare laboratories are involved in over 70% of diagnoses in the NHS and handle more than one billion samples every year, and thanks biomedical scientists, clinical scientists and laboratory staff for their work at the heart of healthcare.”
The motion was supported by 20 other MSPs.
Here are some of the most popular tweets from the day:
As #BiomedicalScienceDay2020 draws to a close I just wanted to say a huge thank you to biomedical & clinical scientists and laboratory staff everywhere for all that you do every day of the year.Covid may have shone a light on your incredible work but you do so much more #proud??
— IBMS CEO (@ibmsceo) June 11, 2020
It's #BiomedicalScienceDay2020. Now more than ever, our hidden profession as Biomedical Scientists & beyond is in the spotlight. We run laboratories day & night providing diagnostics for patients that ~95% of clinical pathways rely upon. Might never see us, but we're always there pic.twitter.com/P3KxcAnLbg
— Cherie Beckett (@CDBeckett) June 11, 2020
Today is #BiomedicalScienceDay2020 ????to celebrate all the efforts of all the Laboratory staff!????
— Alder Hey Laboratory Medicine (@AlderHeyLabMed) June 11, 2020
We have a great team of dedicated, passionate staff with fascinating knowledge here. All staff go the extra mile for all the children at @AlderHey ???? #AtTheHeartOfHealthcare pic.twitter.com/vhbnOklkSR
.@LancsHospPath performing COVID Ab testing for Central Lancs, North Lancs, East Lancs, South Cumbria & LCFT. Well done @LancsHospitals BMS & Pre Analytic staff for the rapid launch. Good luck ELTH & UHMB with your verification, hope you join us soon #BiomedicalScienceDay2020 pic.twitter.com/4owxHW31Im
— Pathology Lancashire Teaching (@LancsHospPath) June 11, 2020
We want to take this opportunity to thank all of our members who were involved in celebrating Biomedical Science Day 2020. It fills us with pride to see so many experts across the four nations rising up and showing everybody just how skilled and valuable you truly are.
