In the week the Med-Tech Innovation Expo brings together the UK's medical device community, Max Chambers, director of insight at PUBLIC explores the medtech trends currently affecting UK healthcare.
Earlier this month, PUBLIC released a new report, The Promise of HealthTech: How Digital Innovators are Transforming the NHS, written by Nicola Blackwood, former Minister for Public Health & Innovation. The report examines the UK’s ecosystem of transformative health technologies, and identifies the opportunities and barriers startups face when seeking to work with NHS.
Technology is changing healthcare in ways that were scarcely imaginable only five years ago. The changes that innovations such as cloud computing, VR, 3D printing, genomics and artificial intelligence are bringing to the NHS cannot come too soon. They represent one of the few ways that the NHS can sustainably relieve the demographic and financial pressures it faces.
Thankfully, the NHS – from top to bottom – realises the power of technology to improve prevention, treatment, care and reduce costs. Much is being done to digitise healthcare. And the supply side – the digital HealthTech market – is finally beginning to deliver the breadth and quality of companies required to cater to the NHS. As is evident from our HealthTech 27 – a list of the most promising, product-led digital health startups – the market is at a very exciting stage.
But the NHS is still very digitally risk-averse. Decision-making processes and procurement systems, as well as attitudes, combine to block innovation and to limit pilots, even if few are consciously opposed or deliberately obstructive. Selling into the NHS is hard. We surveyed hundreds of HealthTech startups, the largest ever such survey, and found the key barriers to selling new technology into the NHS to include: lack of clarity about evidence; fast evolving regulation of digital health products; slow procurement; partial interoperability; unclear data security standards; and limited change management and digital skills.
Together, these barriers make the NHS challenging digital terrain. Efforts to overcome them should be redoubled in the coming years. But startups also need to be savvy about what it takes to sell into the NHS. Regulatory compliance, proof of clinical value, and a cast-iron financial case are fundamental for success. We have drawn up a comprehensive Innovation Checklist which any startups wishing to work with the NHS ought to consult. In addition, it is worth startups focusing attention on – and building solutions for – the areas where the NHS is likely to be more receptive to innovative technologies. We have also included a list of nine key areas of opportunity in the NHS in the coming years.
Our list of the HealthTech 27 - the most promising companies in the HealthTech space - is mapped against these trends. Among the companies profiled in our report are:
3D Life Prints offer patient specific 3D printed anatomical models based medical image data are used by surgeons for a variety of purposes such as pre and intra (after sterilisation) surgical assessment and planning in preparation for complex surgeries, and for education. Surgeons have reported a decrease of planning required while in theatre, and a reduction in the time the patient is under anesthetic and overall operational expenses (c. £1200 – £2000 per hour). 3DLP has contracts with 20 NHS and private medical institutions and ten+ universities, including an embedded facility at the University of Oxford.
The Touch Surgery Platform is an interactive surgical simulator for healthcare professionals; providing a realistic and detailed guide to every step of a procedure. Users can quickly learn surgery, instantly test their knowledge, and rehearse for surgery. Touch Surgery is being used all over the world and is also helping to deliver tailored training for residency programmes (hospital surgical training programmes), and medical device representatives.
Kheiron Medical is a medical imaging company that has developed a computer-aided radiology diagnostics tool powered by machine learning. This will allow radiology departments, imaging centres and hospitals to improve the efficiency, consistency and accuracy of radiology reporting and tracking. Not only will this save time and cognitive workload for doctors, it will also save costs for hospitals, and improve patient outcomes through faster response times and higher accuracy rates. Their software is currently being validated in a series of clinical trials, before full implementation in late 2018.
The NHS is a much-loved institution across the UK, but it is under intense and increasing pressure. New technologies, often best provided by innovative startups, can help. Giving them a chance to do so will be critical to the future of the NHS and the health of the nation.
