• Dr Laura Squire, MedTech Regulatory Reform Lead at MHRA
• Heather Hobson, Head of Regulation and Access at Office for Life Sciences
• Caroline Allen, SVP for Regulatory Affairs and Commercial Quality at Smith+Nephew
• Louise Fullwood, Legal Director at Pinsent Masons

Speakers included

• • Mark Chapman, Interim Director of Medical Technology and Digital Evaluation, NICE
  • Sarah Tyers, Senior Innovation Manager, NHS England
  • Konrad Dobschuetz, National Director of NHS Innovation Accelerator, Chief Enterprise Officer at UCLPartners

Thank you to everyone who attended our Parliament & HealthTech conference. We are very grateful to our attendees, made up of Government, industry, NHS representatives, clinicians and academics, for joining us on the day and participating in the important discussions.

We had the pleasure of welcoming Roland Sinker, National Director for Life Sciences at NHS England, and Rob Webster, Chief Executive of West Yorkshire ICB, as our keynote speakers, who shared their insights on the need for innovation in the health systems and the benefits of HealthTech.

Thank you to all our fantastic speakers for their valuable contributions in the panel sessions, where we heard interesting discussions on topics ranging from the regulation of AI in medical devices and patient safety, to supporting companies in bringing innovative technologies to adoption.

Thank you to  CMR Surgical and Smith+Nephew for sponsoring the event.

We are currently planning for 2024, and we hope to see you at our future events. If you are interested in sponsoring or being involved, please contact us at events@healthtechalliance.uk

During a recent trade body roundtable with Jacqui Rock, NHS Commercial Director, it was recognised that not all industry companies recognise what is required from them in relation to the carbon reduction policy, it was noted that they interpret questions differently to procurement leads.

Speakers for this event were:
Heidi Barnard, Head of Sustainability, NHS Supply Chain
Ben Tongue, Digital Net Zero Lead, Transformation Directorate
Fiona Adshead, Chair, Sustainable Healthcare Coalition

The Health Tech Alliance is bringing three key players – the MedTech Directorate, NHS Supply Chain and NHS Commercial Directorate – together for our members to explain what each organisation’s priority and remit is, how they are collaborating with each other and what their aims are for the coming months.

Speakers for this event:
Andrew New, CEO, NHS Supply Chain
David Lawson, Director of Medical Technology, DHSC
Fiona Hilton, Director of Procurement, NHS Commercial

The roundtable is closed to our sponsors, and focuses on detection, diagnostics and prevention.

This roundtable is closed to our sponsors and will examine the impact and use of robotics across the NHS.

The Health Tech Alliance prides itself on bringing industry and health organisations together to have joint conversations about challenges facing the HealthTech sector and how to overcome these. This meeting will give industry the opportunity to provide feedback to the AHSNs and allow AHSNs to manage the expectations of how best for industry to engage with them.

We were thrilled to officially launch our annual Parliament & HealthTech event series with a kick-off Networking Reception on Thursday 8th June.

Following on from the huge success of our previous event series originating in January 2020 where the launch of the Artificial Intelligence in Health and Care Award was announced, we are proud to announce the addition of the Networking Reception for 2023. You can view the highlights of our previous event series here: Conference | Health Tech Alliance

Taking place on 8th June in the House of Lords Terrace, the Networking Reception is kindly hosted by Lord Bethell, a Member of the House of Lords and the former Health Minister.

The afternoon will consist of opening remarks, a keynote address that will be revealed in the upcoming weeks, networking, as well as drinks and refreshments.

Join industry professionals and decision makers from across Parliament and the health sector at the Networking Reception by signing up via the Eventbrite page.

Huge thank you for BD, CMR Surgical and Smith+Nephew for sponsoring this event.

The event was sold out.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence will lead a meeting for Health Tech Alliance Members on early product development.

Both organisations play a key role in healthtech product development, so we will be hearing more about how they can support the industry on the journey of early product development.

To kick off 2023, the Health Tech Alliance is hosting their first member meeting on the topic of ‘Evidence Gathering’.

Sharing insights and experiences on the evidence gathering process, the session will hear from Nigel Harris, former Director of Innovation and Growth for West of England AHSN and current visiting Professor for the University of Bath and University of West England and Genevieve Riley, current Senior Programme Manager at West of England AHSN.

Health Tech Alliance and Becton Dickinson hosted an event on 4th October which took a deep dive into the role of technology in improving patient safety.

With the evolution of virtual wards and ever-increasing use of technology across the NHS The Health Tech Alliance and Becton Dickinson (BD) are joining forces on 4th October to deep dive into the role of technology in improving patient safety. Following World Patient Safety Day, BD will host this full day event (10:30am – 5pm) from the Safety and Innovation Hub at their Winnersh offices. The event will be made up of a combination of interactive workshops, plenary sessions, and a panel discussion as well as networking opportunities over lunch and eventing reception.

The Centre for Improving Data Collaboration from the NHS Transformation Directorate (formerly NHSX) will be leading our member meeting on 7th June, 12:30-2pm. A slightly longer session this time to fit in all that we’ll want to cover.

The Centre for Improving Data Collaboration is a relatively new business unit which was created to support the health and social care sector to enter into data-sharing partnerships that benefit the NHS, patients and the public. You can find out more about how the Centre is seeking to improve data collaboration here.

We have a brilliant panel lined up, including:

• Catherine Pollard, Director of Tech Policy
• Claire Bloomfield, Deputy Director, Data for R&D
• Kelly Lin, Deputy Director, Commercial Delivery

The 2022 conference returned to Parliament on Thursday 19th May from 2pm to 6pm and was hosted by Taiwo Owatemi MP.  Entitled “The Road to Resilience”, it explored the steps that will need to be taken in the years to come to continue the momentum seen during the pandemic around the key role of HealthTech and make the healthcare system more resilient for its staff and patients. Featuring keynote speakers Sam Roberts, CEO at NICE & Lord Kamall, Minister for Technology, Innovation and Life Sciences, the conference brought together key health sector stakeholders, providing insights into the direction of UK health care, its recovery following the pandemic & how technology can play a vital role in enhancing the health system moving forward.

We hosted a a member meeting with the Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN), focusing on engagement with the private sector. Chaired by Dame Barbara Hakin, panellists included:

• David Hare, Chief Executive of IHPN
• Jim Easton, Vice Chair and Care UK Managing Director
• Nathan Ivens, Head of Procurement at Ramsay Health Care UK

All panellists spoke candidly to our members, outlining the successful and unsuccessful ways for industry to engage with the private sector, as well as the private sector is currently facing.

Our Chair, Dame Barbara Hakin, who offered a ‘state of play’ presentation and Q&A on the NHS and upcoming changes. This covered the upcoming changes including launching of ICSs in July 2022, formation of the MedTech Directorate, the amalgamation of NHSX into the Transformation Directorate, as well as covering the three big problems facing the NHS:

• The backlog of care
• The finite number of people in the workforce
• Backlog of maintenance and funding deficits despite the extra funding announced by Government

The Health Tech Alliance hosted the third of its Parliament & HealthTech Conferences on 14th October 2021. The topic is HealthTech 2025: The Vision Ahead.

We heard from NHS Supply Chain and NHSE/I including Heather Tierney-Moore, interim Chair of Supply Chain and Sara Ford, Customer and Strategy Director.

The Health Tech Alliance is hosting the second of its Parliament & HealthTech Conferences on 24th June 2021. The topic is Healthcare, AI and data: bridging the divide.

The Health Tech Alliance heard from Anne Rainsberry, former NHS England Regional Director for London on the topic of HealthTech and the workforce.

The Health Tech Alliance is hosting the first of its Parliament & HealthTech Conferences on 27th April 2021.

For more information click here.

We heard from Matt Whitty, Chief Executive of the Accelerated Access Collaborative about the AAC’s learnings from Covid-19 and future plans for HealthTech adoption. Whitty exclusively revealed the decision to broaden the criteria for the MedTech Funding Mandate from April 2022.

Members heard from Deputy Chief Executive and Director for Centre for Health Technology Evaluation at NICE, Meindert Boysen, and Senior Technical Advisor at NICE, Paul Dimmock, during the 3rd December 2020 members’ meeting. The meeting focused on NICE’s role in innovation and its future strategy, as well the evolving nature of NICE’s dialogue with industry going forwards.

The Health Tech Alliance arranged a meeting with senior representatives of the AHSN Network to discuss how industry and AHSNs could collaborate more effectively. AHSNs are set out their plans to support industry with real-world evidence generation.

Members heard from Nigel Edwards, Chief Executive of the Nuffield Trust on the lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic and the new ICS and ICP landscape.

The Health Tech Alliance heard from former founding Chief Executive Sir Andrew Dillon about the future of NICE, what the Covid-19 pandemic meant for the organisation and the expected changes for the evaluation of health technologies.

The Health Tech Alliance convened its inaugural Parliament & HealthTech Conference in the Houses of Parliament. The Conference was hosted by Steve McCabe MP, chaired by Dame Barbara Hakin, the Chair of the Health Tech Alliance, and was attended by nearly 200 delegates from across the industry, Parliament, civil society, the NHS and wider health bodies. It was sponsored by Edwards Lifesciences, Intuitive and iRhythm Technologies. The conference heard keynote speeches from the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care the Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP and Dr Sam Roberts, Chief Executive of the Accelerated Access Collaborative and two panel sessions featuring a host of senior stakeholders from across the health system. Read more here.

Members heard from representatives of the Shelford Group of teaching hospitals about the realities of hospital procurement and discuss how industry and hospital procurement teams can work together more effectively and in alignment with the NHS Long Term Plan. Read more here.

A range of speakers from across the Academic Health Science Networks provided our members provided a detailed outline of the AHSN Network’s role in driving the uptake of innovation and how this ties with the work of the Accelerated Access Collaborative and the Long Term Plan. Members later joined forces with AHSN representatives to discuss how both entities collaborate more effectively. Read more here.

The Health Tech Alliance attended this Westminster Health Forum event which was an opportunity to hear about the work of the recently launched NHSX and provided an opportunity to consider what support the Accelerated Access Collaborative can provide to innovators to ensure the uptake of new technologies in the NHS.

Members heard from the former Health Minister Lord O’Shaughnessy about the healthtech policy landscape and Dr Helen Compton of the NIHR about the latest developments on the Accelerated Access Collaborative. Read more here.

Following the publication of the NHS’ long-term plan, members discussed the plans’ implications for healthtech and NHS’ key areas of long-term focus. Read more here.

Members heard from Dr Sam Roberts, Director of Life Sciences and Innovation and Jill Cockrill, Senior Casemix Consultant at NHS Digital. Read more here.

Members received advice on best practice in NICE submissions and assessments and a live demo of HealthTech Connect (formerly MedTechScan) horizon-scanning system. Speakers: David Sissling, Sheryl Warttig and Paul Dimmock from the NICE Centre for Health Technology Evaluation. Read more here.

The Alliance held a workshop on how healthtech companies could better collaborate with the Academic Health Science Network (AHSNs) hearing from Steve Feast, Managing Director of Eastern AHSN and Holly McLaren, Commercial Director of UCL Partners. Read more here.

Following the Government’s response to the Accelerated Access Review (AAR), the Alliance heard from Miles Scott, Improvement Director at NHS Improvement and Caroline Fenwick, from the Office for Life Sciences, both of whom were overseeing implementation of the AAR at their respective organisations. Read more here.

Rachel Yates, the Managing Director and Deputy SRO of the ‘Getting It Right First Time’ (GIRFT) programme updated members on the progress of the GIRFT programme. Read more here.

Members were given an exclusive first look at the MedTech Early Technical Assessment (META) tool, hearing from NICE’s Carla Deakin and Deborah Morrison. Read more here.