The HealthTech sector continues to be the UK’s largest life sciences employer, latest government figures have revealed. In the annual Strength and Opportunity report, published by the Office for Life Sciences, HealthTech employment has grown at 4.4%, with overall turnover also increasing at a rate of 3.9%.
When added to its service and supply sector, the SME-dominated industry now employs 123,900 people in the UK, with 97% of companies employing under 250 staff.
Highlighting HealthTech’s changing make-up, digital health provided the largest absolute increase in employment, with 54% of companies having been formed within the last decade.
Commenting on the figures, ABHI CEO Peter Ellingworth said: “The HealthTech sector continues to create new job opportunities right across the UK, with digital health now forming a significant part of the market. The figures not only highlight HealthTech’s importance to UK plc., but critically, to the millions of patients that are served within the NHS each year. With the right level of support, there is significant potential for sustainable growth, and we are engaged with government at a number of levels to enable this.”
The review marks the ninth annual report analysing the updated 2017 dataset from the bioscience and health technologies database. The full report is available here.
Peter Ellingworth was also in attendance at the inaugural Life Sciences Council meeting this week. The Council, which brings together ministers and industry, is focussed on ensuring the UK continues to be a global leader in life sciences. To coincide with the meeting, the Life Science Competitiveness Indicators report was released, highlighting that the UK has one of the most productive health and life sciences sectors in the world.
