Dame Babara Hakin, chair of the Well being Tech Alliance (Credit score: Well being Tech Alliance)
The Well being Tech Alliance, an off-the-cuff coalition of well being know-how firms and stakeholders from throughout the NHS and wider well being system, has launched a report detailing the necessity for reform in NHS procurement.
The report, ‘Unlocking innovation: suggestions for reworking NHS well being tech procurement’, printed on 17 July 2025, units out a roadmap for making a “extra streamlined, clear, and innovation-friendly procurement system” to ship higher affected person outcomes and long-term worth for the NHS.
It follows the publication of the NHS 10 12 months well being plan, on 3 July 2025, which introduces standardised value-based procurement steerage for units and digital merchandise ranging from early 2026.
Worth-based procurement is an method that delivers a discount in the entire life prices of healthcare the place worth might be created from monetary, effectivity, affected person, and environmental advantages.
Dame Barbara Hakin, chair of the Well being Tech Alliance and former deputy chief govt of NHS England, stated: “Final week’s dedication to raised value-based procurement practices within the 10 12 months plan is an important step ahead, reinforcing the necessity for a wiser, extra strategic method to equipping the NHS.
“Our report brings collectively the voices of clinicians, trade, and NHS leaders to offer a transparent and sensible roadmap for procurement reform – one that may prioritise high-impact applied sciences, ship extra worth, and finally guarantee higher take care of sufferers.
“By supporting the adoption of evidence-based innovation and fostering nearer collaboration between policymakers, the NHS and the well being tech sector, we have now a singular alternative to drive actual, tangible progress for sufferers and the UK well being tech sector alike.”
The report highlights how complicated paperwork and fragmented pathways are slowing the adoption of well being know-how that would enhance affected person care and proposes a roadmap to enhance procurement techniques.
Key suggestions from the report embrace:
- Streamlining central procurement processes and lowering administrative burden for all stakeholders,
- prioritising value-based procurement that considers long-term outcomes, not simply short-term prices,
- making a central portal and data hub to help SMEs and innovators,
- enhancing early engagement and data sharing throughout NHS organisations,
- ring-fencing innovation budgets at belief and built-in care system (ICS) degree,
- bettering coordination and consistency throughout ICSs to cut back fragmentation and unfold greatest apply; and
- investing in training and coaching to help a tradition of innovation and value-based choice making in NHS procurement groups.
The report is the results of a collection of workshops held between July 2024 and February 2025, which introduced collectively representatives from the well being tech trade, central well being our bodies and native procurement results in establish the challenges inside NHS well being tech procurement and suggest methods to make processes extra environment friendly and efficient.
Baroness Gillian Merron, well being minister, introduced on the Well being Tech Alliance’s Parliament and HealthTech Convention, which occurred on 4 February 2025 in London, that steerage to simplify the procurement of well being know-how is being examined by NHS trusts and is predicted to launch in 2025.
