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Found 417 results
  1. News Article
    Using robots to assist in operations could make surgery more efficient and free up NHS beds, a report has suggested. The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) has published a guide: Robotic Assisted Surgery – a pathway to the future; exploring the potential benefits and challenges of the technology. It said the document “provides a structured pathway” for surgeons who want to transition to robotic-assisted surgery, which allows doctors to operate with more precision using interactive, mechanical arms. The report outlined “significant advantages” of using robots in surgery, including reduced post-op pain, fewer blood transfusions, more efficient use of anaesthetics and shorter hospital stays for patients. There are also benefits when it comes to patient safety, the college said, with platforms eliminating tremors and providing a magnified image of the surgical site. Read full story Source: The Independent, 14 July 2023
  2. News Article
    Cheshire and Merseyside won Gold in the ‘Supporting Elective Recovery Through Digital’ category, at the HSJ Digital Awards, alongside technology partner C2-Ai, after transforming how waiting lists are managed with the help of an AI-backed waiting list model. The tool helps surgical teams identify previously hidden high-risk patients, and to make informed decisions on how, when and where to treat patients to achieve the best outcomes. NHS England, who commissioned the project, reported that within six weeks patient waiting lists dropped by nearly 30%, as well as a 66% decrease in intensive care needs for high-risk patients, saved about 2,500 hospital bed-days across 20,000 patients, and cut emergency admissions to the waiting list by 8%. Read full story Source: NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, 3 July 2023
  3. News Article
    Smartwatches might help diagnose Parkinson's disease up to seven years ahead of symptoms, a study suggests. The UK Dementia Research Institute team at Cardiff University used artificial intelligence to analyse data from 103,712 smartwatch wearers. By tracking their speed of movement over a single week, between 2013 and 2016, they were able to predict which would go on to develop Parkinson's. It is hoped this could ultimately be used as a screening tool. But more studies, comparing these findings with other data gathered around the world, are needed to check how accurate it will be, the researchers say, in the journal Nature Medicine. Read full story Source: BBC News, 3 July 2023
  4. News Article
    As the NHS turns 75, it is under unprecedented pressure: record waiting lists, demand for care and delays in discharging patients who are well enough to go home are putting all parts of the health service under immense strain. Sickness absence is at record levels, while nearly 170,000 NHS workers in England quit their jobs last year. Recent strikes by nurses, ambulance staff and junior doctors, coupled with the historic decision by consultants and radiographers to strike, too, show the depth of anger. Five experts spell out what’s needed to make the health service thrive again. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 3 July 2023
  5. News Article
    A new type of artificial-intelligence technology that cuts the time cancer patients must wait before starting radiotherapy is to be offered at cost price to all NHS trusts in England. It helps doctors calculate where to direct the therapeutic radiation beams, to kill cancerous cells while sparing as many healthy ones as possible. Researchers at Addenbrooke's Hospital trained the AI program with Microsoft. For each patient, doctors typically spend between 25 minutes and two hours working through about 100 scan cross-sections, carefully "contouring" or outlining bones and organs. But the AI program works two and a half times quicker, the researchers say. When treating the prostate gland, for example, medics want to avoid damage to the nearby bladder or rectum, which could leave patients with lifelong continence issues. Read full story Source: BBC News, 27 June 2023
  6. News Article
    Artificial intelligence (AI) is set to be rolled out more widely across the NHS in a bid to diagnose diseases and treat patients faster. The Government has announced a £21 million funding pot that NHS trusts can apply for to implement AI tools for the likes of medical imaging and decision support. This includes tools that analyse chest X-rays in suspected cases of lung cancer. AI technology that can diagnose strokes will also be available to all stroke networks by the end of 2023 – up from 86% – and could help patients get treated faster and lead to better health outcomes. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the technology could help cut NHS waiting lists ahead of winter. Read full story Source: The Independent, 23 June 2023
  7. News Article
    Hardeep Singh, an informatics leader, patient safety advocate and innovator, and friend of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF), has been awarded the Individual Achievement Award in the 20th John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards for demonstrating exceptional leadership and scholarship in patient safety and healthcare quality through his substantive lifetime body of work. The Joint Commission and National Quality Forum present Eisenberg Awards annually to recognise major achievements to improve patient safety and healthcare quality. Dr Singh, chief of the Health Policy, Quality & Informatics Program in the Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety at Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and professor at Baylor College of Medicine, was recognised for his pioneering career in diagnostic and health IT safety and his commitment to translating his research into pragmatic tools, strategies, and innovations for improving patient safety. His commitment to improving patient safety began while pursuing his Master of Public Health at the Medical College of Wisconsin in 2002 when he first learned the field of patient safety existed. That commitment was galvanised early in his medical career, as he found himself treating patients who had been misdiagnosed, received unsafe care, or experienced poor outcomes. The breadth and depth of Dr Singh's research work is remarkable, but what is most notable is the extent to which he has succeeded in translating it into pragmatic strategies and innovations for improving patient safety. Dr. Singh emphasised that while the Eisenberg Award recognizes an individual for their achievements, his work in patient safety has been successful because of its multi-disciplinary and collaborative approach with psychologists, human factors engineers, social scientists, informaticians, patients, and more. That work has led to the development of several tools to improve patient safety, including The Safer Dx Checklist, which helps organizations perform proactive self-assessment on where they stand in terms of diagnostic safety. "As an immigrant and an international medical graduate, I have had a lifelong dream to make an impact on health care. I saw every scientific project as an opportunity to change health care. So, I made a personal commitment that my research must use a pragmatic, real-world improvement lens and challenge the status quo in quality and safety," Dr. Singh said. Read full story Source: Jewish Healthcare Foundation News, 31 August 2022
  8. News Article
    Scientists have developed a virus-killing plastic that could make it harder for bugs, including Covid, to spread in hospitals and care homes. The team at Queen's University Belfast say their plastic film is cheap and could be fashioned into protective gear such as aprons. It works by reacting with light to release chemicals that break the virus. The study showed it could kill viruses by the million, even in tough species which linger on clothes and surfaces. The research was accelerated as part of the UK's response to the Covid pandemic. Studies had shown the Covid virus was able to survive for up to 72 hours on some surfaces, but that is nothing compared to sturdier species. Norovirus - known as the winter vomiting bug - can survive outside the body for two weeks while waiting for somebody new to infect. "This is the first time that anything like this has been developed," said Prof Andrew Mills, from the university's chemistry department. He added: "This film could replace many of the disposable plastic films used in the healthcare industry as it has the added value of being self-sterilising at no real extra cost." He said current personal protective equipment used in hospitals did a good job, but "infections can take place when you take off or put on the PPE, so this can help". Read full story Source: BBC News, 8 September 2022
  9. News Article
    When the new Royal Liverpool Hospital opens its doors in October, every patient will have a single room with an en-suite bathroom. That set-up is unusual for acute hospitals in England, but many feel it is the future for all new buildings. "There's the privacy and dignity from the patient's point of view," says Jacqui Stamper, the hospital's associate chief nurse. "If they're in the room and talking to the doctors or the nurses, there isn't somebody just the other side of a curtain listening." "And then there's the infection prevention side of it as well. "It's absolutely the state of the art way of hospital care really." The new system will require staff to work differently, so patients can be properly monitored. Each ward has been broken up into smaller zones of between six and eight beds, and each zone has its own base where the nurses will sit. The trust which runs the hospital is currently running workshops to get staff used to the layout. "Nursing staff will be used to working in a bigger team than a couple of people, so it is a different way of working," Ms Stamper says. "We're listening to our staff and their concerns and answering those to see how we can address them going forward." Read full story Source: BBC News, 2 September 2022
  10. News Article
    The finalists for The Innovate Awards 2022 have been revealed following a rigorous round of judging over the summer, and Patient Safety Learning is a finalist in the 'Enabling Safer Systems of Care Through Innovation' category. In its inaugural year, The Innovate Awards saw a grand total of 194 entries from health and care teams across the country covering ten award categories. The ten eventual winners will also compete for ‘Innovation Champion of the Year’ to be announced on the evening of the award ceremony in September. Commenting on the awards, Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive, NHS Confederation from NHS Confederation said: “Judges across all the award categories have remarked on how impressive and inspiring the work contained in these submissions has been. It has been a delight to see the wonderful efforts taking place in terms of innovation in the health and care sector and it is hugely important to recognise and celebrate this.” Read full story Source: AHSN Network (30 August 2022)
  11. News Article
    NHS nurses will wear “smart goggles" as part of efforts to see more patients under a £400,000 pilot scheme. Health chiefs said the virtual reality headsets would mean details of a consultation could be directly transcribed, reducing the amount of time spent filling in patients’ notes. The technology will also allow live footage to be streamed to hospital specialists for second opinions, so patients do not have to have extra appointments in hospitals. The intention is to give nurses more time for clinical duties such as checking blood pressure, dressing wounds and assessing a patient’s health needs. Dr Tim Ferris, NHS director for transformation, said: “These new smart glasses are the latest pioneering tech and really show us what the future of the NHS could look like. “They are a win-win for staff and patients alike, freeing up time-consuming admin for nurses, meaning more time for patient care.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 20 August 2022
  12. News Article
    The NHS is to use artificial intelligence to detect, screen and treat people at risk of hepatitis C under plans to eradicate the disease by 2030. Hepatitis C often does not have any noticeable symptoms until the liver has been severely damaged, which means thousands of people are living with the infection – known as the silent killer – without realising it. Left untreated, it can cause life-threatening damage to the liver over years. But with modern treatments now available, it is possible to cure the infection. Now health chiefs are launching a hi-tech screening programme in England in a fresh drive to identify thousands of people unaware they have the virus. The scheme, due to begin in the next few weeks, aims to help people living with hepatitis C get a life-saving diagnosis and access to treatment before it is too late. The NHS will identify people who may have the virus by using AI to scan health records for a number of key risk factors, such as historical blood transfusions or an HIV diagnosis. Anyone identified through the new screening process will be invited for a review by their GP and, if appropriate, further screening for hepatitis C. Those who test positive for the virus will be offered treatment available after NHS England struck a deal with three major pharmaceutical companies. Prof Graham Foster, national clinical chair for NHS England’s hepatitis C elimination programmes, said the scheme “marks a significant step forward” in the fight to eliminate the virus before 2030. It will “use new software to identify and test patients most at risk from the virus – potentially saving thousands of lives”, he added. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 31 July 2022
  13. News Article
    A stick-on patch that can take an ultrasound scan of a person’s insides as they go about their daily life has been hailed as a revolution in medical imaging. The wearable patch, which is the size of a postage stamp, can image blood vessels, the digestive system and internal organs for up to 48 hours, giving doctors a more detailed picture of a patient’s health than the snapshots provided by routine scans. In laboratory tests, researchers used the patches to watch people’s hearts change shape during exercise, their stomachs expand and shrink as they drank and passed drinks, and their muscles pick up microdamage when weightlifting. Prof Xuanhe Zhao at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who led the research team, said the patches could “revolutionise” medical imaging because existing scans are very brief, sometimes lasting only seconds, and usually have to be performed in hospitals. Ultrasound scans are extremely common, with NHS England performing more than 8m last year. But the technique has major limitations, requiring highly trained sonographers to place and orient the probes on patients’ bodies to get high-quality images. For this reason, most ultrasound scans are brief and performed on patients who are required to keep still while the images are taken. Wireless patches could sidestep some of these problems, as they can be fixed in position and left to take images for hours, and even days, at a time, the researchers say. Beyond scanning organs for early signs of disease, the “set and forget” patches could monitor bladder function, tumours, and the development of foetuses in the womb. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 28 July 2022
  14. News Article
    Medical students are using hologram patients to hone their skills with life-like training scenarios. The project at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge is the first in the world to use the mixed reality technology in this way. Students wear Microsoft HoloLens headsets that let them interact with the patient while still being able to see each other. Lecturers are able to alter the patient’s response, make observations and add complications to the scenario. It enables realistic and immersive safe-to-fail training which can be delivered remotely as well as in person. The first module, covering respiratory conditions and emergencies, has already been launched and more are planned around cardiology and neurology. The HoloScenarios system is being developed by Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, in partnership with the University of Cambridge and US-based tech firm GigXR. Consultant anaesthetist Dr Arun Gupta, who is leading the project in Cambridge, said: “Mixed reality is increasingly recognised as a useful method of simulator training. As institutions scale procurement, the demand for platforms that offer utility and ease of mixed reality learning management is rapidly expanding" Read full story Source: CIEHF, 21 July 2022
  15. News Article
    A pilot scheme to reduce infections following catheter insertions has shown a 100% fall within a hospital trust. NHS Supply Chain is now encouraging acute trusts in England to take advantage of the scheme which has shown to not only reduce infection rates but shorten patient length of stay and save clinicians’ time. Catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) are not uncommon and can cause patients significant pain, discomfort, confusion and anxiety for family and friends. They further impact healthcare with increased antibiotic use, prolonged hospital stays, increased clinical activity and risk of complaints and litigation. University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust had audited its urethral catheterisation practice, and the way catheterised patients w19 July ere cared for in clinical areas. The audit highlighted a wide variation in care delivery leading to inconsistent outcomes for patients and staff. After reviewing the available options, the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust decided to pilot the BARD® Tray which contains all the essential items to catheterise or re-catheterise a patient in one pack and includes the catheter with a pre-connected urine drainage bag. This unique ‘closed system’ prevents ingress of bacteria and helps avoid catheter related infection. NHS Supply Chain: Rehabilitation, Disabled Services, Women’s Health and Associated Consumables worked alongside supplier Beckton Dickinson to provide the tray products required by the trust. During the three-month pilot, catheter related infection rates fell by 100% at the trust which coincided with a reduction in complaints and a reduced length of hospital stay for patients. Clinicians reported that the pack was intuitive and saved around five minutes per catheterisation, which during the pilot process meant saving 83 hours from 1,000 catheterisation procedures. While the BARD® Tray was more expensive than the individual components that were currently purchased, the pilot study demonstrated the clinical and financial value that was delivered by the tray being implemented across an organisation. The overall cost of components is slightly cheaper, but due to reduced catheterisations, consumables spend fell by 24%. Read full story Source: NHS Supply Chain, 19 July 2022
  16. News Article
    A world-famous hospital has a culture where some staff may put research interests above patient safety, according to an external investigation. A report published yesterday cited some employees at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children Foundation Trust as saying “they feel that the hospital sometimes put too much emphasis on pushing the boundaries of science” and “are concerned [this] may lead to a culture where some prioritise innovation over safety in their practice”. The trust’s medical director Sanjiv Sharma commissioned the report into the effectiveness of its safety procedures, from consultancy Verita, in 2020, after families of several patients who died at the hospital raised concerns in the media about how it responded to safety incidents. The report said: “We believe that it is sometimes culturally difficult within Great Ormond Street to accept that things can go wrong and to respond appropriately. We were told that some see the organisation as ‘bullet-proof’ in the face of criticism." “There is also a view outside the trust that some clinicians at Great Ormond Street can find it difficult to accept that something had gone wrong. Some believe that this reflex is deeply ingrained. This is potentially indicative of a culture of defensiveness. Acknowledging this trait is the first step on the road to changing it.” Dr Sharma said in a statement yesterday that GOSH had already taken steps to improve its culture and systems, appointing patient safety educators and patient safety leads in each directorate. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 7 July 2022
  17. News Article
    The NHS plans to use drones to fly chemotherapy drugs to cancer patients in England to avoid the need for long journeys to collect them. The devices will transport doses from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight in a trial that, if successful, will lead to drones being used for similar drops elsewhere. They will take 30 minutes to travel acrss the Solent, which will save patients on the island a three to four-hour round trip by ferry or hovercraft. On Tuesday, Amanda Pritchard, NHS England’s chief executive, unveiled the move to help mark the 74th anniversary of the health service’s creation by the postwar Labour government. “Delivering chemo by drone is another extraordinary development for cancer patients and shows how the NHS will stop at nothing to ensure people get the treatment they need as promptly as possible, while also cutting costs and carbon emissions,” she said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 5 July 2022
  18. News Article
    New plans to strengthen the regulation of medical devices to improve patient safety and encourage innovation have been published. Following the UK’s exit from the European Union (EU), the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has a unique opportunity to improve how medical devices and in vitro diagnostic medical devices (IVDs) are regulated in the UK. The package of reforms will apply to medical devices such as hearing aids, x-ray machines and insulin pumps; new technologies such as smartphone apps and Artificial Intelligence (AI); as well as certain cosmetic products like dermal fillers. The new measures include: Strengthening the MHRA’s powers to act to keep patients safe. Giving the public and patients greater assurance on both the performance and safety of the highest-risk medical devices, such as those which need to be implanted. Increasing the scope and extent of regulation to respond to public need. Enhancing systems that are already in place to better protect users of medical devices and certain cosmetic products, and providing greater assurance of their performance and safety. Addressing health disparities and mitigating identified inequities throughout medical devices development and use. Mitigating against inequities in medical devices, ensuring they function as intended for diverse populations. The government has launched a review into the potential equity issues in the design and use of medical devices to tackle health inequalities and will update in due course. Making the UK a focus for innovation, and the best place to develop and introduce innovative medical devices. Ensuring the new regulatory framework encourages responsible innovation so that patients in the UK are better able to access the most advanced medical devices to meet their needs. Setting world-leading standards and building the new UKCA mark. Transforming a new stamp of certification, replacing the CE mark, into a trusted brand that signifies global safety, health and environment protection standards have been met for medical device products. This will in turn boost the MHRA’s global reputation and growing partnerships with other regulators. Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: "Now we have left the EU, these new changes will allow innovation to thrive and ensure UK patients are among the first to benefit from technological breakthroughs." "We are now able to introduce some of the most robust safety measures in the world for medical devices to ensure patients are protected." Read press release Source: Gov.UK, 26 June 2022
  19. News Article
    Government will pick five or six ‘integration frontrunner’ areas ‘to lead the way in developing and testing radical new approaches’ to speeding up discharge from acute hospitals. Along with NHS England, ministers today wrote to local NHS and council directors asking for bids to take part by 30 June. They said there was “a need to take a more fundamental look at [how the] system currently manages the discharge of patients, their post-acute care, and their access to high-quality social care”. The “discharge integration frontrunner sites” will focus on exploring “new service models, such as the delivery of a more integrated model for intermediate care across existing health and social care”, and “designing and testing new enabling arrangements, which might include new funding models, more integrated workforce models, or the deployment of new technologies”, their letter said. They said speeding up hospital discharge was “just one” potential benefit from integration and indicated that “future phases” of frontrunners may focus elsewhere. But delayed discharge has been a major pressure on the system over the past year, particularly last winter, and the letter says: “Delayed discharges are one very visible signal that the health and care system remains fragmented and too often fails to deliver joined-up services that meet people’s needs.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 21 June 2022
  20. News Article
    Patients in England can get early access to more cutting-edge medicines through a new fund. The Innovative Medicines Fund (IMF) works like the existing Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF), fast-tracking promising treatments, even if they are expensive and have not yet been approved for routine NHS use. It will cover potentially life-saving drugs for rare and genetic diseases. The government has allocated up to £680m a year to be shared by the funds. The IMF, like the CDF, will mean a newly approved medicine could be prescribed immediately, before final recommendations on it are drawn up by the advisory body that weighs the cost versus benefit of drugs used by the NHS - an organisation called NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence). Patients would be able to access the treatment while data is collected for NICE to determine whether the medicine is affordable and effective enough to offer more widely. A similar fund for innovative treatments - the New Medicines Fund - already exists in Scotland. Wales has a New Treatments Fund that helps pay for high-cost drugs which have been recommended as cost-effective by NICE. Experts hope funds like these will improve the lives of many who might otherwise miss out. Read full story Source: BBC News, 7 June 2022
  21. News Article
    A newly approved weight loss jab should be used with caution as it could be harmful to those vulnerable to eating disorders, doctors have warned. Thousands struggling with obesity could be prescribed Wegovy, or semaglutide, which scientists have described as a “game changer”, after the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) approved its use. However, eating disorder experts have warned the NHS to proceed with caution in prescribing the drug, with one GP accusing NICE of being “absolutely reckless” in approving it. The drug was approved on Wednesday for use in adults who have at least one weight-related condition, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol sleep apnoea and heart disease, and a body mass index score of at least 35. It can only be prescribed to those undergoing weight management treatment. Read full story Source: The Independent, 8 March 2023
  22. News Article
    Elon Musk's attempt to implant microchips into human brains has been rejected by US medical regulators over concerns about the safety of the technology. Mr Musk's Neuralink business, which is hoping to insert tiny chips into people's skulls to treat conditions such as paralysis and blindness, was denied initial permission for clinical trials last year. US medical regulators were said to have "dozens" of concerns over the risks posed by the device, Reuters reported. Concerns include fears that tiny electrodes could get lodged in other parts of the brain, which could impair cognitive function or rupture blood vessels. Neuralink's chips are designed to be threaded into the brain using tiny filaments and harness artificial intelligence technology to pick up brain activity using a so-called "brain computer interface". Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 3 March 2023
  23. News Article
    Artificial intelligence could help NHS surgeons perform 300 more transplant operations every year, according to British researchers who have designed a new tool to boost the quality of donor organs. Currently, medical staff must rely on their own assessments of whether an organ may be suitable for transplanting into a patient. It means some organs are picked that ultimately do not prove successful, while others that might be useful can be disregarded. Now experts have developed a pioneering method that uses AI to effectively score potential organs by comparing them to images of tens of thousands of other organs used in transplant operations. The project is being backed by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), which has almost 7,000 people in the UK on its waiting list for a transplant. “We at NHSBT are extremely committed to making this exciting venture a success,” said Prof Derek Manas, the organ donation and transplantation medical director of NHSBT. “This is an exciting development in technological infrastructure that, once validated, will enable surgeons and transplant clinicians to make more informed decisions about organ usage and help to close the gap between those patients waiting for and those receiving lifesaving organs.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 1 March 2023
  24. News Article
    Pradeep Gill can see very little of the intense activity around him. He is leaning back in a reclining chair inside one of Heatherwood Hospital's operating theatres. Buzzing around him is the operating team, led by consultant orthopaedic surgeon Jeremy Granville-Chapman. For the surgeon and his team, this procedure is the very definition of routine. They have carried out more than 1,000 joint operations in the past 10 months. Heatherwood Hospital, part of the Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, is a specialist elective hub where patients can come in for routine but life-changing surgery at a super-charged pace with theatres working at full tilt, six days a week. It is busy. But it is a good-busy, not the bad-busy we have come to associate with the NHS during this winter crisis. The site opened in March last year and Frimley's hospital executives are keen to stress the impact it has made. "As a specialist planned care facility, Heatherwood has been able to perform surgery six days a week with four out of its six state-of-the-art theatres dedicated to orthopaedic procedures," it said in a press release. "The hospital has also successfully reduced the length of time patients stay in hospital, with 40% of patients safely discharged within 24 hours." This is the practice the NHS wants to adopt as it battles a record seven-million-strong waiting list. Heatherwood can do that because the hospital is ring-fenced from acute pressures that affect other hospitals, as one its most senior orthopaedic surgeons, Mr Rakesh Kucheira, explained. "We have now realised that winter pressures are 12 months not just three months, which means the acute sites are not going to be able to do planned activity that they planned for, so we've got to create more space," he said. Read full story Source: Sky News, 9 March 2023
  25. News Article
    Patients across the UK are set to benefit from access to safe, effective and innovative equipment and medical devices as part of the first ever medical technology (medtech) strategy published today. The blueprint for boosting NHS medtech will focus on accelerating access to innovative technologies, such as the latest generation of home dialysis machines that enable patients to manage their own health at home and in their day to day lives. It also sets out steps which need to be taken to ensure patients can access safe, effective and innovative technology through the NHS, which can help diagnose, treat and deliver care more quickly, freeing up clinician time. The NHS spends £10 billion a year on medtech including syringes, wheelchairs, Minister of State for Health Will Quince said: "The UK’s innovative spirit delivered revolutionary technology during the pandemic - from COVID tests and ventilators - and we want to harness this in promoting cutting-edge medical advancements to improve patient care. The NHS spends around £10 billion a year on medical technology and I’m looking forward to working with industry to use this as we focus on reducing hospital stays, enhancing diagnosis, preventing illness and freeing up staff time. This new medtech strategy will help build a sustainable NHS with patients at the centre so people can continue to access the right care at the right time." The key aims of the strategy are to: boost the supply of the best equipment to deliver greater resilience to health care challenges, such as pandemics, and enhance NHS performance through modernised technology which will enable faster diagnosis, treatment and ultimately discharge to free up hospital beds. encourage ambitious, innovative research to secure the UK’s position as a global science superpower and attract vital investment for the UK economy and create jobs across the country. In 2021, there were already around 60 different research programmes supporting innovative technologies, representing over £1 billion of funding. increase understanding and awareness of medtech by clinicians which will lead to more informed purchasing on new products and deliver better value for taxpayer money and better services for patients. build on the Life Sciences Vision to improve collaboration between the NHS, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) as an innovation partner to ensure patients can access the right products safely. Read full story Source: DHSC, 3 February 2023
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