David Lawson is Director of Medical Technology & Innovation at the Department for Health and Social Care. The MTG spoke to him about the department’s MedTech Strategy, using innovation to cope with the NHS’s long term challenges and improving the culture of adoption across the health service.

Can you explain to us how the DHSC is driving innovation across the NHS, what progress are we seeing in regard to implementing the new MedTech Strategy?

Our ambition is to support a thriving life sciences and MedTech sector. We are committed to a collaborative approach, not just across the health family, but crucially with both industry and patients through early involvement to co-designing practical interventions to support the adoption of innovation. 

Earlier this year in April we published a One Year On report on the Government’s inaugural MedTech Strategy published last year. There are a range of initiatives that support its delivery – from rapid allocation of funding to Integrated Care Systems to adopt technology that can relieve winter pressures to the development of a national asset tracking information system by the NHS Supply Chain.

In May we also saw NHS England and NICE launch a public consultation on a Rules Based Pathway. Work continues to follow through these initiatives and take forward other key projects including the development of a standard methodology for value-based procurement, development of a system to enable passporting of evidence validation and publication  of the Design for Life Roadmap to support re-use, remanufacture, and recycling.

In terms of potential, what do you think medical technology and innovation can achieve when it comes to helping the NHS with its long term challenges?

It is our mission to turn the health service around and build an NHS fit for the future.  The NHS is experiencing many challenges including lengthy diagnostic waiting times, a backlog for elective care and outdated technology. Medtech is a key enabler to help fix the NHS – supporting a shift from treatment to prevention, from hospital to providing care in the home and transitioning from analogue to digital.

Through the MedTech Strategy, we have already shown the potential of innovation to help the NHS and the public. For example, we provided funding last year under the Health Tech Adoption and Acceleration Fund (HTAAF) to deliver self-testing for kidney disease at home, to support 30,000 patients, a device that could help detect 1,300 cases and prevent more unplanned hospital admissions. 

The technologies selected under the Innovative Devices Access Pathway (IDAP) also show the potential for the future. For example, one of eight selected innovative technologies is a portable blood test to help paramedics identify stroke patients more quickly. It means patients can be taken to a comprehensive stroke center for immediate, vital treatment, sparing thousands from long-term disability and the associated care costs, while reducing pressure on A&E departments nationwide.

You’ve previously commented that we’re very good at innovation in the UK and not so good at adoption. What do you think we could do better, not just at a policy level but also in terms of culture across the NHS?

Though there are over three million products registered for use on the UK market (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), a comprehensive review by the Accelerated Access Collaborative found that even innovations with strong evidence of system-wide and patient benefits were not widely adopted across the NHS.

With over 90% of MedTech purchased at a local level we need to support local decision-makers to make informed evidence-based decisions on the most effective technology to adopt and address unwarranted variation to free up budget to invest in the most effective innovation. That is why we have commissioned NICE to undertake assessments of existing product categories, why we are now updating the application processes for Part IX for products prescribed in the community and why we are working closely with colleagues across the health family and with industry and patient groups to develop a value-based procurement methodology. 

This will give NHS Trusts a structured approach to assess and compare technology against key value domains with an ambition that we can also develop a system to enable suppliers to have product claims assessed once and for that assessment to be passported and relied upon at a local level. The aim is to improve both consistency and speed of decision making to support the most effective technology to be adopted.

We look forward to engaging with the Medical Technology Group as we continue to develop the value-based procurement methodology and progress the other initiatives under the MedTech Strategy.

September 2024