NICE Medtech Innovation Briefings To Support Med Device Development
NICE have announced the publication a new set of briefings designed to increase uptake of innovative medical devices and technologies within the NHS, driven by concerns that patients are not receiving the benefits of new technologies quickly enough.
Professor Gillian Leng, Deputy Chief Executive of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), announced their intention to produce new Medtech Innovation Briefings that will provide objective information on promising devices and diagnostics.
The aim of these briefings is to 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.
"We will produce about 40 new Medical Innovation Briefings per year at NICE, which reflects the scale of new innovations that are arriving”, noted Leng. “Together, the briefings will form a significant portfolio of advice from NICE on how effective some of these innovative products are.”
This initiative comes hot on the heels of NICE attempting to improve innovation within the NHS. Such as their pilot work on four areas including new oral anticoagulants for the prevention of stroke and atrial fibrillation, and insulin pumps for type 2 diabetes.
The NICE Implementation Collaborative is also working to remove barriers between NICE and NHS to improve patient access to the information they need. 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 (ABPI).
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. 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”.
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”.