NICE MedTech Innovation Briefings

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A new type of briefing from NICE (the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence) is set to provide clinicians and managers in England with rapid information on medical devices and diagnostics to help them decide whether to purchase products.

Call to Action

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As part of the “˜Call to Action”, NHS England is developing a five year strategy for specialised services, which will be published in April 2014. NHS England directly commissions 143 specialised services and will be developing a commissioning framework for each service. Specialised services accounts for about 10% of the total NHS budget or £12.2 billion per annum.

Hospital Activity Data

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NHS England has issued the latest statistical data relating to elective and non-elective in-patient admissions, outpatient referrals and attendances for first consultant outpatient appointments. Data is available from April 2008 to December 2013. The data show year on year increases in GP referrals, first outpatient attendances and elective surgery. The day case rate i.e. the proportion of total elective admissions that were day cases is 80.4%.

NICE Medical Technology Guidance

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NICE has now issued guidance on 16 medical technologies. Compared to the number of new technologies seeking access to the market in England only a few are being evaluated by NICE; one in 2010, seven in 2011, three in 2012, five in 2013 and none yet this year. There are a further eleven technologies in evaluation with guidance for six due to be issued this year. Published guidance provides a concise summary of the clinical and cost benefits of the technologies and can be a useful tool to support market access.