Joining forces: What the Health Tech Alliance stands for

Throughout the first half of 2018, Med-Tech Innovation News met with a selection of industry associations to find out what each one offers. This first report is from Dame Barbara Hakin, chair of the Health Tech Alliance. We asked Dame Barbara what the alliance stands for, and how measures such as the Accelerated Access Review can be put into practise.

The Health Tech Alliance is an informal coalition of medical technology companies, working with the NHS and other key stakeholders to raise the profile of medical technologies, devices and diagnostics and drive up their adoption throughout the health service. We provide an informal platform for companies both small and large to get involved in strengthening the voice of their sector.

The Alliance believes that the UK’s thriving medtech sector holds enormous potential in alleviating pressures on clinical staff, enabling greater self-care among patients and reducing bed days – all of which benefit both patient outcomes as well as the overstretched health service itself. It is therefore our mission to ensure that patients can access the wealth of innovation currently developing within the medical technology sector by alleviating the market access and reimbursement obstacles that currently affect the sector.

We do this by working as collaboratively as possible. Changes to wider health policy can have a profound effect in shaping the business environment for individual companies and it is therefore necessary to engage with government departments, health bodies and politicians in ensuring that the voice of medtech is considered – something we do on behalf of our members, while keeping them updated through timely intelligence on key industry and political developments that can affect their business.

Our regular members’ meetings allow them to engage directly with stakeholders such as those from NICE, NHS England, the AHSN network and the Office of Life Sciences. They also provide a space for them to share best practice with industry peers and explore opportunities for further collaboration with leading market access experts and other members.

There have been recent policy announcements that do demonstrate an encouraging commitment from the Government in ensuring that important innovations are given the chance to deliver greater efficiencies within the NHS. The Government’s response to the Accelerated Access Review in November 2017 pledged £86 million of Government support to drive the uptake, adoption and diffusion of health technologies along with the introduction of an Accelerated Access Pathway for up to five transformative protects a year. We’ve also seen the announcement of a Life Science’s ‘Sector Deal’ that outlines a series of commitments and investments from Government to drive both growth and productivity within the life sciences sector.

These measures do set a high-level of ambition and I hope, on behalf of our members and the wider industry, that this is a first-step towards the Accelerated Access Pathway expanding in the future so that a greater number of life-changing medical technologies reach patients sooner. However, we the Alliance believe that for medtech companies to truly benefit from measures such as the Accelerated Access Review, industry voices must be working with policy makers to inform decisions and have a role in implementation.

The Health Tech Alliance offers members the chance to do so, in intimate, informal settings. To get the most out of joining the Alliance, we need members to not just engage but engage constructively with other bodies. The NHS faces huge challenges and the industry needs to work together and with the NHS to find viable solutions to these challenges. We aim to facilitate this problem-solving approach by encouraging collaboration between member companies and senior stakeholders and the numerous organisations that make up the health system. We believe this is vital to ensure patients get the best possible treatments and the best possible outcomes.

For more information on the Health Tech Alliance, visit www.healthtechalliance.uk or contact the Secretariat at secretariat@healthtechalliance.uk