People across England and Wales are set to receive faster, fairer access to innovative HealthTech under the new National HealthTech Access Programme (NHAP).
The 10 Year Health Plan set out how the government will address the long-standing challenge that cutting-edge HealthTech is not being used in the NHS, or is only available to patients in some parts of the country.
The new National Healthtech Access Programme (previously called the Rules Based Pathway) is a collaborative approach between NICE, the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, MHRA and the Office for Life Sciences. The approach will expand NICE’s Technology Appraisals programme to incorporate health technologies. This means that like medicines, a small selection of high-impact technologies will be reimbursed and made available across the entire health service.
NICE has announced that the first two topics to go through the new programme are capsule sponge tests for detecting oesophageal cancer and AI tools for identifying prostate and breast cancer – technologies that could transform early diagnosis for thousands of patients each year, and drive workforce efficiency in the NHS through releasing capacity.
The new programme forms part of a strategic open innovation approach to HealthTech that is set out in the 10 Year Health Plan to create a far better experience for patients and NHS professionals, unlocking the extraordinary potential of HealthTech advances and the UK’s HealthTech sector.
Professor Jonathan Benger, Chief Executive of NICE, commented: “When NICE was founded 26 years ago, it set out to end the postcode lottery in access to medicines. We’re now extending that same clarity and fairness to HealthTech. These reforms mean that clinically and cost-effective medical devices, diagnostics and digital tools will start to be reimbursed and made available consistently across the NHS. This will give patients faster access to proven technologies and ensure NHS resources are spent where they make the greatest difference.”
Ministers have also referred two other topics to NICE subject to further evidence. They are technologies to improve detection of endometrial cancer in women with unexplained vaginal bleeding, and the use of AI-to help analyse chest X-rays for suspected lung cancer in primary care referrals.
The NHAP is one of three commitments that NICE will deliver as part of the government’s 10 Year Plan for the NHS. These are:
- Faster, fairer roll out of high impact healthtech
- Updating guidance to drive smarter spending
- Parallel decisions for faster access.