Medical Technology Awareness Week 2016
Jo Churchill MP was our host at the MTG’s 2016 parliamentary reception on Tuesday 6th December, where over 150 people – including parliamentarians from both Houses, policy advisers, patient-users and clinicians – joined MTG members on the terrace at the House of Commons.
Speaking to guests, Jo Churchill – herself a beneficiary of life-changing medical technology – highlighted the benefits a strong and innovative medtech industry delivers to the UK economy, as well as to many thousands of individuals and their families each year – but urged our health services to do more to extend access.
Two patients who attended the reception tell their stories of how medical technology has transformed their lives:
The focus for 2016:
The theme for this fourth Medical Technology Week was improving ‘Access to life changing medical technology’, and the event afforded guests the opportunity to explore just a very small sample of the 500,000 plus available medical technologies – from flexible stents that respond to body heat to replacement knee joints, to focused ultrasound and Magnetic Resonance Imaging to non-invasively treat target tissue inside the body without the need for incisions – and to engage with patients whose lives had been transformed as a result of a medical device repairing a condition, such as sudden ischaemic stroke as a result of a blood clot, or enabling them to manage limiting conditions such as diabetes or chronic pain.
The MTG also launched its campaign on accelerated access to medical technologies – an initiative to ensure that patients continue to get access to innovative treatments for the next 50 years, and that the key recommendations from the recently released AAR are taken up by Government and the NHS.
