The Conservative Party Conference proved to be an extremely fruitful event for those interested in health policy, with the numerous fringe events on health provoking timely policy discussions. However, clearly the Health Secretary’s speech was always going to be the main draw.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay’s flagship announcement will delight many in our sector as he unveiled plans to invest £30 million in innovative technology for the NHS. ICSs will each vie for a portion of the cash to roll out new technology which will cut waiting lists and improve outcomes. It is expected that this will further aid the expansion of virtual wards as we head towards winter.
In announcing the news, Mr Barclay conceded that it ‘can sometimes take too long to roll out new innovations nationally, even when they have been proven to work in local pilots’ – news which doubtlessly will come as no surprise to members. You can read more about the announcement here.
Separately, David Lawson, Head of the MedTech Directorate, confirmed that ICSs will have 3 weeks to apply for a share of the money – to open shortly – and welcomed companies’ engagement with ICSs. If you have any questions, please email MedTech@dhsc.gov.uk.
Fringe events
The Conference hosted several fringe health-related events over the course of the week. This included a conversation with Steve Barclay, with broadcaster Iain Dale anchoring, where he stated that the key to better patient outcomes lies in getting conditions diagnosed quicker; therefore allowing cheaper treatment. He also expressed his enthusiasm for rolling out technology more quickly and at scale across the NHS, trailing his keynote conference speech.
In another conversational session, the Prime Minister hailed the UK as a leader in life sciences and tech in Europe, and also highlighted life sciences as a key growth industry in his main conference speech.
Neil O’Brien, Minister for Primary Care and Public Health, spoke at a fringe event dedicated to diagnostics and their potential to revolutionise the NHS. Mr O’Brien defended the Government’s record, namechecking Community Diagnostic Centres and digital health checks. Moreover, current screening methods are tackling health inequalities, including the use of the FIT test.
Mr O’Brien also identified the value of changing behaviour and methods in the NHS, and the value of AI in diagnostics now and in the future. He confirmed that the Government would be purchasing one million Grail Galleri tests.
Government Health Minister Lord Markham, in an event examining the UK’s future as a global science superpower, stressed that making the NHS a science superpower is directly linked to making the NHS sustainable. He also noted that the Government wishes to partner innovators with venture capitalist funds to drive academic research and elevate the nation’s science superpower status.
In further remarks, Lord Markham stated the Government seeks to provide a digital platform to develop innovations, while acknowledging that regulatory support is paramount. The minister talked up the prospects of partnership agreements between Government and industry, such as recent deal with Moderna, to provide long term assurance and funding.
In welcome news for our sector, he closed by reasserting the importance of scalability of innovations across the NHS, claiming the Government need to implement a simple scaling mechanism.
Former Health Minister Lord Bethell made some important remarks in an event focusing on prevention in health. He underlined the necessity of a prevention agenda, while proclaiming new, transformative innovations, such as novel blood tests, and big data as methods to enable its success. However, in order to make inroads, the institutional languor of the NHS must be overcome.
Lord Markham concurred with his fellow peer in a different session, calling the prevention agenda the most important facet of the Major Conditions Strategy.
The importance of the prevention agenda was also echoed by former Health Minister James Morris, again, in a different session. Mr Morris also highlighted how patients must be empowered to take control of their own care through innovations as well as noting that difficulty in establishing correct data configurations is limiting potential innovation breakthroughs, especially in genomics.
