Chris Whitehouse, a political consultant and expert on medical technology policy and regulation at Whitehouse Communications, an advisor to MedTech suppliers, chair of the Urology Trade Association, and governor of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, highlights a new government strategy to ensure that in future MedTech is part of the circular, not linear economy, and that products are re-used or recycled.
Baroness Gillian Merron, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Patient Safety, has published a new Roadmap to deliver the government’s ambition to transition away from all avoidable single-use medical technology (MedTech) products towards a functioning circular system by 2045 that maximises reuse, remanufacture and recycling.
The Roadmap also has the backing of the governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, so will apply to the whole United Kingdom.
The new approach is based upon the principle that circularity in MedTech means designing, procuring and processing medical products in a way that enables them to be reused, remanufactured or recycled, preserving their value for as long as possible. The benefits of a circular economy in the health sector, the Roadmap asserts, are ‘vast and increasingly well-understood, but are rarely put into practice and are difficult to scale’. Unlocking these benefits across the UK MedTech sector would bring many opportunities for innovation and growth, while improving patient care and value for money and supporting the transition to a net zero NHS.
The Roadmap sets out to deliver on four objectives, namely to:
- Boost UK growth
- Improve NHS resilience
- Reduce waste and emissions
- Generate substantial cost savings
Within the document, the government sets out a plan of 30 actions to deliver its 2045 vision, which will involve:
- Driving positive behavioural change
- Exploring new commercial incentives to provide circular MedTech
- Creating new standards to enable innovative products and services
- Planning the decontamination and recycling infrastructure of the future
- Establishing new collaborations to accelerate the emergence of transformative science.
Writing in the Ministerial Foreword to the Roadmap, Baroness Merron makes clear that the current, largely linear approach, cannot continue, saying: "Every single MedTech product purchased by the NHS is bought because we prioritise and always will prioritise patient care and safety. But the volume of products thrown away after a single use - from tourniquets and scissors to high-tech electronics - should concern all of us. We can no longer accept this as normal practice."
The change government is seeking to deliver would be nothing short of a paradigm shift in purchasing and recycling policy and practice, which along with the introduction of value based procurement could fundamentally change the way the NHS throughout the UK approaches the sourcing of products and services. The MedTech sector needs actively to engage with those behind the new approach to keep ahead of the game.
Comments upon or questions about this article can be addressed to chris.whitehouse@whitehousecomms.com
