17th May 2013
NICE to produce new Medtech Innovation Briefings
NICE is developing a new set of briefings to help boost the uptake of innovative devices and technologies within the NHS.
New, innovative technologies have the potential to improve patient health and increase NHS productivity. However, there is widespread concern that patients are not receiving the benefits of such technologies quickly enough.
To help tackle this Professor Gillian Leng, Deputy Chief Executive of NICE, announced today that NICE will produce new Medtech Innovation Briefings that will provide objective information on promising devices and diagnostics.
Speaking at the NICE Annual Conference, Professor Leng said the briefings will describe new products, summarise information on the evidence of their clinical and cost effectiveness, and on the care pathway in which they can be used.
The briefings will include input from experts the potential use of the technology in the pathway of care, but they will not contain judgements from NICE on their value. The briefings will not be restricted healthcare products, as they will also cover those relevant to social care.
Professor Leng said: “We will produce about 40 new Medical Innovation Briefings per year at NICE, which reflects the scale of new innovations that are arriving. Together, the briefings will form a significant portfolio of advice from NICE on how effective some of these innovative products are.”
The announcement follows successive recent measures from NICE to help increase the uptake of innovation within the NHS.
In January 2013, the NICE Implementation Collaborative began work to identify the barriers of the implementation of NICE guidance, to help ensure that patients get quick and more consistent access they need.
Pilot work is currently being carried out in four areas, which include new oral anticoagulants for the prevention of stroke and atrial fibrillation, and insulin pumps for type 2 diabetes.
The collaborative is a partnership between organisations ranging from those within the NHS to the life sciences, and includes the Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI), NHS Clinical Commissioners and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABIPI).
Stephen Whitehead, Chief Executive Officer of the ABPI, said: “We have an innovation deficit in the UK and we know that this is being demonstrated by international guideline comparisons and NICE is acutely aware of it.
“We have worked together with NICE, NHS England and others to produce various initiatives, most of which are top-down to try and mandate adoption of NICE guidance.”
He added: “Once NICE guidance is produced, it should be adopted. It’s as simple as that.”
Earlier this month, NICE also announced the start of its Health Technologies Adoption Programme., With funding from NHS England, the programme will provide a more systematic approach to the adoption by the NHS of new technologies such as diagnostic and monitoring devices, surgical implants and other technologies that improve the care given to patients.
Peter Ellingworth, Chief Executive of ABHI, commented: “Medical technology has a long history of working closely with clinicians in terms of how things are invented, how they’re developed and how they’re evidenced.
“I think the challenge is despite the great things that NICE is doing across England, clinicians need to start taking up NICE guidance, and start implementing it better. Bringing NTAC into NICE is frankly long overdue.”