17th December 2014
The National Assembly for Wales’ Health and Social Care Committee calls for Wales to have a robust and coordinated approach to medical technology
Assembly Committee calls for Wales to have a robust and coordinated approach to medical technology
The National Assembly for Wales’ Health and Social Care Committee has found that a number of challenges exist in relation to the adoption of medical technologies in Wales.
The role new technology plays in improving the delivery of health and social services is well recognised with benefits including better outcomes for patients, clinicians and carers.
However, evidence presented to the Committee shows that Wales needs to establish a strategic approach to medical technology. The Committee heard that, in many cases, technologies are being introduced due to the enthusiasm of individual clinicians, leading to variable service provision across health boards.
The Committee believes that a more robust and transparent appraisal process for new technologies is needed, which would provide the necessary foundation for a more effective and consistent approach to commissioning new technologies.
The Committee is calling on the Minister for Health and Social Services to ensure that:
- Options for an all-Wales medical technologies appraisal mechanism, to undertake similar function in respect of medical technologies as the All Wales Medicines Strategy Group does for medicine, are developed
- A national approach to commissioning new technologies is adopted in cases where the budget impact of prospective technologies is high, wider population needs need to be met, services need to be commissioned across health board boundaries and/or there is potential to commission treatment from elsewhere in the UK
- The uptake of recommended technologies across Wales, including those recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), is measured as part of a formal audit process
- Steps are taken to ensure that primary and community care voices are heard in any new system for the appraisal, evaluation and commissioning of medical technologies
- Innovation and best practice in primary and community care settings is identified and shared more widely; and
- NHS staff are able to access appropriate training on the use of new technologies.
The Committee also recommends that the approach taken should focus on prioritising investment in new evidence-based technologies, alongside a programme of disinvestment in out-dated and ineffective equipment. It concludes that any new approach should provide equity of access to appropriate new treatments for Welsh patients.
David Rees AM, Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee, said:
“The role new technology has to play in improving the delivery of health and social services is long recognised, with benefits including better outcomes for patients, clinicians and carers. We know that the use of technologies can lead to more efficient and effective treatment, improved equity of access to services, and delivery of care closer to – or even within – an individual’s own home.
“What the Committee has found, however, is that a more strategic and coordinated approach needs to be taken to the adoption of new health technologies in Wales. As a result, our report recommends that the Minister should give consideration to the creation of an all-Wales body to appraise and prioritise new technologies.
“We believe that this recommendation, along with the others we make in our report, form the building blocks for an improved system for adopting medical technologies in Wales.”