The Department of Health and Social Care says the NHS will move from a ‘cheapest-first’ to a ‘patient-first’ approach to purchasing medical technology, as it aims to cut waiting lists and save money in the long term.
The NHS currently spends around £10 billion per year on medtech, but has previously opted to buy tech based primarily on cost rather than effectiveness. This new approach will save billions of pounds by considering how well the pioneering equipment works for patients in the long term, supports patient and staff safety, and drives down future costs including warranty.
It forms part of the Government’s drive to ensure better productivity across the NHS, with new data showing productivity for acute trusts increased by 2.7% over the past year - between April 2024 and March 2025 - exceeding the government’s 2% year-on-year target set in the 10 Year Health Plan.
As well as through better use of technology, this has been achieved by more same-day discharges, shorter hospital stays, reduced reliance on agency staff, improved staff retention, and sending in crack teams of top clinicians to underperforming trusts to drive rapid improvements.
Fiona Bride, Interim Chief Commercial Officer and Director of Medicines Value and Access at NHS England, said: “Value-based procurement has already improved how we secure medicines, and now it’s being applied to the equipment patients rely on every day. This is about more than cost. It’s about working with suppliers to deliver technologies that bring real value - with better outcomes for patients, greater efficiency for the NHS and sustainable care for the future.”
Following early trials of the value-based procurement guidance and extensive engagement across the health system, including with industry and patient groups, 13 NHS trusts will pilot the new guidance, with rollout across the NHS expected by early 2026.
As well as supporting individual trusts to purchase medtech, the government is partnering with NHS Supply Chain and the NHS London Procurement Partnership to roll out value-based procurement across the country - including for purchasing technology and devices used in cardiology and vascular treatment and the use of AI in clinical settings. The NHS Supply Chain’s Cardiology and Vascular Framework alone is worth approximately £1 billion.
Andrew New, CEO of NHS Supply Chain, said: “Through value-based procurement we are able to ensure that procurement decisions are based on more than just product cost, with patient outcomes, sustainability and the total cost across the whole patient pathway key considerations. As the national provider of procurement services, NHS Supply Chain is committed to working with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS trusts to apply this approach through our contracts, with the first to go live via three frameworks as part of this pilot which will help us to learn and refine our approach for the future.
How NHS trusts purchase medical technology differs across the health service, with the absence of any standard guidance. This makes it difficult for medtech suppliers to do business with the NHS and drives suppliers away - blocking innovation from getting to the front line of patient care. This new guidance will make the NHS an attractive place for the world’s greatest minds to roll out groundbreaking new devices and technology to treat patients.