Graham Ewart, CEO, DHG (Direct Healthcare Group) writes about the need for greater investment and preparedness in the healthcare sector, and the need for ongoing investment in innovation to drive the industry forward and future proof itself against future crises.
The British healthcare sector has long been known for breaking new ground. From the founding of the NHS 73 years ago, to the development of the COVID-19 vaccine only last year, our small island has contributed significantly to global healthcare over the past 100 years.
But this success would be nowhere without the research and development which goes into building new technologies, and the gambles taken in adopting them.
While we who work in the sector know full well the benefits and life-changing capabilities new products can bring, convincing key decision makers and customers to invest - sometimes heavily and against ever tightening budgets - in never-before-seen technologies is an altogether different matter. The question remains, how can innovation be encouraged in a system where price rules and where there is an understandable disinclination to purchase costly new products despite their demonstrable benefits?
The answer lies in embracing innovation as a long-term investment. To bring genuine long term sustainable benefits to global healthcare, we mustn’t be afraid to learn from our mistakes, admit that innovation is often trial and error, and nurture partnerships knowing that one right move could change futures. Without this way of thinking, I worry we’ll never be able to look beyond the quick wins and face a continuing circle of short termism in innovation, where product manufacture and adoption is continuously driven down by cost and budget constraints.
In addition, and while it sounds counter-intuitive, I truly believe that to drive UK healthcare innovation forward and encourage home-grown R&D, we must look beyond our borders for inspiration and work together with international markets. After all, there is no exclusivity on ideas, and we must be open to receiving them from everywhere. Some of our best innovations have started as small thoughts from our global customers or international colleagues, and together with our R&D team in Caerphilly, have grown to become products which have truly changed the lives of patients across the world.
At DHG, we pride ourselves on our international reach. Holding a 15% market share for our sector across Europe, we were humbled this year to have been awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for services to International Trade, five years after receiving the same recognition for Enterprise in Innovation.
In just ten years, we’ve grown from a company with one product, solely focussed on the UK, to one with a portfolio of products and trading in more than 40 countries across the globe. It’s this closeness and trade with our foreign neighbours which has allowed us to gain unique insight into how international markets have weathered healthcare storms and how international investment and governance fuels innovation, something which is at risk of being left behind in the UK as the system battles ever-growing budgetary constraints.
As a sector which has been thrust into the forefront of global survival, we must now all work together to embed a culture of innovation from top to bottom - to learn, develop and meet the demands of an increasingly diverse population, fulfil urgent requirements, and improve clinical outcomes.
At DHG, we strive daily to prevent healthcare problems associated with reduced patient movement, anticipating, managing, and in many cases, resolving these challenges to support care providers and those they care for.
But like most across the sector, we have had to dig deep, change strategy to optimise opportunities and invest to ensure we not only survived but thrived through the crisis.
A significant part of this has been our continued investment within our R&D department. After all, 40% of our revenues stem directly from our own patented products - many of which have won prestigious industry awards, and as such we continue to ensure this department leads our business strategy.
Our products are used in acute care and home environments around the world, and we are proud that our developments continue to transform the way healthcare is provided and increase the life-quality of patients in their hundreds of thousands.
One clear example is our Dyna-Form Mercury Advance mattress. In a study of over 500,000 patients placed on over 4,000 mattresses across 12 NHS sites, it was found that our mattress led to a 56% sustainable decrease in pressure ulcer incidence rates, drastically improving patient health outcomes and health economics.
Not only did this particular product revolutionise the way in which pressure ulcer prevention is delivered, but it has enabled less need for patient handling, reducing stress on the patient and freeing up time for carers - the latter a need which has been dramatically revealed in the past 18 months. Our R&D facility is now developing this product further as we plan to release a new updated and market-changing system later this year.
It is exactly these results which we strive to achieve daily through innovation, and without significant and ongoing reinvestment into our facilities, we may not be where we are today.
Delivering genuine innovation that makes a real difference to both patients and the lives of our hardworking healthcare professionals should be at the very heart of everything we do as sector and it’s my belief that it must be viewed as a critical component, not one to be discarded due to budgets or viewed as an optional aside.
It is only by embracing innovation as a culture that we can build on what we have, drive UK healthcare forward and future proof ourselves against future crises. R&D is key to the whole of the healthcare, research and scientific sector and now really is the time to invest in our talent and showcase how British developments can work alongside international achievements to help transform the lives of those across the world.
Graham Ewart will be speaking on Day One of Med-Tech Innovation Expo on the Med-Tech Innovation Conference stage at 10:30 am. Taking place on 28-29 September at NEC, Birmingham, register now at med-techexpo.com.