Department of Health and Social Care policy paper: Design for Life roadmap (16 October 2024)

Summary

This roadmap sets out the government’s ambition to transition away from all avoidable single-use medical technology (medtech) products towards a functioning circular system by 2045 that maximises reuse, remanufacture and recycling.

Content

Circularity in medtech means designing, procuring and processing medical products in a way that enables them to be reused, remanufactured or recycled, preserving their value for as long as possible. The benefits of a circular economy in the health sector are vast and increasingly well-understood, but are rarely put into practice and are difficult to scale. Unlocking these benefits across the UK medtech sector will bring many opportunities for innovation and growth, while improving patient care and value for money and supporting the transition to a net zero NHS.

This document sets out a plan of 30 actions to deliver our 2045 vision, which will involve:

• driving positive behavioural change
• exploring new commercial incentives to provide circular medtech
• creating new standards to enable innovative products and services
• planning the decontamination and recycling infrastructure of the future
• establishing new collaborations to accelerate the emergence of transformative science.