The Medical Technology Group has welcomed calls for an increase in medical technology funding in the NHS, and the elimination of “silo” budgeting that fails to account for long-term benefits of technology use.
“Patient access to life changing medical technologies needs to be improved further,” said Anne Jolly, MTG spokesperson. “We are delighted that the NHS Confederation has recognised the vital role medical technology plays in ensuring a streamlined, cost-effective NHS, but want to see fuller advantage being taken of the range of technologies on offer that will benefit patients. “Technology not only facilitates shorter surgery times and a faster throughput of patients, it provides patients with shorter recovery times, enabling them to get back to work and normal life faster. The cost benefits are far further reaching than those seen by an individual Trust.”
Coronary artery disease (CAD), where a build up of plaque causes the narrowing of coronary arteries, costs the NHS approximately £3.5 billion per year, with hospital care accounting for 79% of these costs. Traditional treatment is by coronary artery bypass (CABG), but clinicians are increasingly using the less invasive coronary artery stenting (angioplasty). Angioplasty is significantly cheaper than CABG, saving approximately £3,552 and 5.4 bed days per patient. In addition, using the latest drug eluting stents (DES) can significantly reduce the need for repeat procedures. If all 59,000 procedures performed in England in 2004 had used DES, approximately 4,000 repeat interventions could have been avoided, saving 7,876 bed days and almost £3.5million.
Of the total 2005 NHS budget of £82 billion, only 4.8% was spent on medical technology, one of the lowest rates in Europe. The Northern European average spend is 9.4%. Investment in technology has both economic and social benefits, the MTG maintains and says that in today’s cash-strapped NHS, better uptake of medical technology provides a real opportunity to save money in the long term. MTG states that NHS policies are still suffering from in short-term decision-making, with product procurement based on up-front costs without sufficient regard to long-term patient outcomes.
