NICE announces proposals to transform its HealthTech programme to drive more technology into the NHS
Consultation launches on the biggest shake-up of NICE's HealthTech programme to date.
More innovative healthcare technologies could soon be adopted by the NHS under reforms proposed today by NICE.
The changes aim to transform how medical devices, diagnostics and digital and AI health technologies are evaluated as the NHS moves from 'analogue to digital', ‘hospital to community’, and ‘treatment to prevention’.
In the biggest shake-up of NICE's HealthTech programme to date, the plans enable more products to be evaluated and remove the requirement for medical devices to be cost saving for them to be recommended for use in the NHS.
Instead, independent committees will assess all technologies based on cost-effectiveness and so will balance the cost of the technology with the benefits it brings to patients and the service, which may include savings or efficiencies.
The move is part of a series of proposals to set up NICE’s HealthTech programme for the next decade and beyond as the health service moves from ‘analogue to digital’. The proposed changes will improve the productivity of the NHS with the roll out of new technologies and digital approaches to help more people receive the care they need in the community.
The changes NICE is expected to adopt will transform patients’ experience of care by embracing technology. Since launching its HealthTech programme, NICE has recommended innovative technologies such as hybrid closed loop systems for managing blood glucose levels in type 1 diabetes, digitally enabled therapies for adults with depression, and a technology which looks for a genetic variant in babies to guide antibiotic use and prevent hearing loss.
We're transforming our HealthTech programme to ensure it meets the needs of the NHS both now and in the future.
Our transformation aims to deliver clearer, quicker and more targeted guidance that fits NHS priorities. We want to identify and accelerate the adoption of the most effective devices, interventions, digital solutions and diagnostic tools into the NHS, where they can transform patient care and outcomes. We've already cut guidance development time without compromising quality. This is the next step.
Mark continued: “Our proposed new approach, including a multi-tech cost-effectiveness approach and revised assessment methods, will create opportunities for innovative solutions that previously might not have reached our independent committees for consideration because they weren’t cost saving.
"We're committed to ensuring NICE’s world leading position in making the very best clinically and cost-effective HealthTech available to our NHS."
Key changes include:
merging three existing programmes into a single HealthTech programme
introducing a lifecycle evaluation approach to consider technologies for early or routine use in the NHS, and consider those already in use
making multi-tech assessments of similar technologies with the same purpose standard practice.
NICE is merging the interventional procedures, medical technologies evaluation and diagnostics assessment programmes to become one HealthTech programme.
The proposals are set to formalise the way NICE will evaluate technologies for early NHS use, previously described as early value assessments. Evaluation methods will flex to reflect what stage a technology or procedure is at in the lifecycle.
It is expected that multi-tech assessments of products will become the norm, helping the NHS make informed purchasing decisions when multiple products with the same purpose are available. When only one technology is available in the market though, a single technology assessment will be carried out.
This is the first update to create a HealthTech manual and further changes are planned to ensure NICE guidance is relevant and meets the needs of patients and the NHS.
A consultation has now begun on the proposed changes and comments can be submitted until Thursday 6 March 2025.