DTI REPORT CRITICISES NHS FOR BLOCKING NEW TREATMENTS
· Parties issued election challenge over UK's first ever health sector manifesto

A new DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) report has found that the NHS is 'risk averse' and 'inhibits the take-up' of medical breakthroughs that can save lives and treat patients less invasively.

The study, carried out by Arthur D. Little, found that although the UK medical technology industry is "a high value added business sector whose output is contributing to more positive health care outcomes and patient satisfaction", "market entry for products in the UK is more difficult than in other countries".

Procurement systems in the UK "particularly impact the development of Small-to-Medium Enterprises (SMEs)".

The Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI) welcomes today the DTI report as it officially launches the UK's first ever Healthcare Industries Manifesto – The Future of Britain's Health – and lays down a challenge to each of the three main party health spokespersons in the wake of the report.

The Association challenges each of them to respond to the manifesto's detailed recommendations to tangibly improve healthcare.

John Wilkinson, the ABHI's Director General, recently gave evidence to the House of Commons Health Select Committee on the benefits and barriers to adoption of new medical technologies within the NHS. He pointed out to the MPs that, as well as providing better care, it tends to works out far more costly if you ignore more efficient new
technologies because extra complications can develop with less effective treatments which are more costly to treat.

He called for the incoming Government to continue the support that has been given to the NHS but create an environment where the adoption of new technologies was rewarded rather than perceived as a risk to meeting short-term targets.

Rory Carroll, Communications Manager, for the ABHI, said: "The DTI's report has confirmed officially what anecdotally we have known for some time.

"We in the UK are excellent at developing some of the world's best new treatments but terribly slow at actually seeing the benefits through to our own patients.

"The parties will be talking a lot about waiting lists and choice over the next few weeks or months. However, the way to treat people more effectively and get better value is to embrace technology and adopt newer, more efficient treatments far quicker than the NHS does at the moment."

"This is the real issue that can make the biggest improvement in patient treatment on the NHS – often the difference between life and death."

Key quotes from the new DTI report:

·       "Centralised procurement systems favour large suppliers and cost containment, but obstruct innovation getting to the market and patient choices. They particularly disfavour SMEs."

·       "Over-constrained budgets for healthcare favour suppliers of less advanced products, which hinders such suppliers accessing the world's largest and most sophisticated market (often the US)."

·       "The current trend in the UK appears to be towards framework agreements focused on lowest prices, with little analysis of downstream impact of decisions."

·       "Strong procurement risk-aversion within the NHS leads to favouring existing suppliers and technologies, which slows down the uptake of innovative products."

·       "In countries where clinicians are closely involved in the buying decision there is a better balance between value for money and meeting the patients' needs."

(5/4/05)