At today's Westminster Health Forum keynote seminar Next steps for NICE - developing future guidelines, measuring output and supporting market access (10th January 2019), Professor Gillian Leng, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Health and Social Care at NICE asserts that NICE aims, "To help improve the quality, sustainability and productivity of health and social care by producing guidance and information on effective practice and public health interventions."

In line with the NHS Long Term Plan, published on 7th January 2019, Professor Leng confirmed that, "Our work will be driven by pathways that reflect the way prevention, treatment, and care are organised and delivered.” 

Download the NHS Long Term Plan in full, a summary, or listen on Soundcloud here: https://bit.ly/2LV46Hl

Dr Paul Chrisp, Director, Centre for Guidelines at NICE emphasised that, "NICE's core business is all about spending on the right things - identify specific recommendations that can save money and enable conversations at a patient and population level on appropriate treatments and interventions."

In 2019 NICE will introduce two new schemes for industry; The Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access (VPAS) and Health Tech Connect.  Professor Leng confirmed that NICE will be focussing on evaluating medical technologies and increasing uptake.  Ideas to improve adoption include Which? guides, funding requirements, and the launch of Health Tech Connect. 

The Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access (VPAS)

NICE will be replacing the existing Pharmaceutical Pricing Regulation Scheme (PPRS) with the Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access (VPAS).  The scheme aims to achieve a balance between patient access, affordability and supporting the development of innovative new medicines, including support for small companies.  All new medicines will now have an appropriate NICE appraisal, unless there is a clear rationale for not doing do.  There will be commitments to improve the uptake for the most clinically and cost-effective medicines. 

Health Tech Connect

Health Tech Connect (https://bit.ly/2AUoc0e) has been developed by NICE with funding from the NHS and is preparing to go live this year.  It is a secure online system for identifying and supporting health technologies (including devices, diagnostics, apps, and wearables) as they move from inception to adoption in the UK.  The system will provide a point of entry for health technologies to access national evaluation systems and will help companies to understand what information is needed by decision makers in the UK (such as levels of evidence and routes to market). Professor Leng stated that NICE are working to, "Provide clarity around the types of evidence that are needed around the effectiveness of digital technologies."

Andrew Davies, Director, Market Access at ABHI commented that, "Historically, health tech is seen as having a lack of evidence."  With the pace that the capabilities of digital technologies evolve, a scheme for evaluation will need to support industry in bringing innovations to market so that patients can benefit.  Health Tech Connect are looking to address this with the introduction of the Accelerated Access Collaborative, which aims to facilitate the identification of transformative technologies and fast-track them through the relevant processes. 

Find out more about the Accelerated Access Collaborate here: https://bit.ly/2Hm9FA4

Professor Martin Green, Chief Executive of Care England, reflected that, "What ‘good’ looks like must be centred around the experience of the patient, ensuring they have received the care that they need enabling them to live well. It should be about citizens, not about systems or organisations.” Going forward, there is the potential for NICE to have a role in driving the agenda of knowing what works and putting patients at the centre of the system.

Post Contributor:

Caitriona Fitzsimons Digital Reporter