NHS: Technology
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps are being taken to ensure that legislation, funding and incentives actively enable HealthTech adoption at scale across the health system.
Answered by Dr Zubir Ahmed
The Department, alongside NHS England, is working to improve the conditions for the adoption and scaling of healthcare technology (HealthTech) across the National Health Service.
The Department has developed a National HealthTech Access Programme to provide a clearer national route to funding and adoption for high impact technologies. This draws on existing evaluation and assurance processes, helping to reduce variation following pilot activity. The focus is on technologies with the potential to rapidly improve NHS services and patients' lives, nationwide. The first two technologies to be evaluated by this mechanism are already underway and have the potential to transform early diagnosis of oesophageal, prostate, and breast cancer.
In parallel, the Department and NHS England are supporting trusts to make more consistent procurement decisions through Value Based Procurement standard guidance for medical technology, which is currently at its pilot stage. This enables wider value considerations, alongside cost, to be taken into account during local procurement exercises.
The Department continues to work closely with partners, including NHS England, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the NHS Supply Chain, and industry representative bodies to improve, scale, and embed adoption of HealthTech in the NHS.
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