The Government has announced £30 million funding to support the development and roll-out of innovative medical technology for the NHS. 

Integrated Care Systems will be able to bid for the funding to buy the latest Med Tech products, which the Department for Health and Social Care hope will help to reduce waiting times and improve early diagnosis/treatment.

Examples of technology which the funding could be used to deploy include investment in virtual wards, supported by technology such as wearable medical devices to monitor vital signs and send information back to clinical staff from a patient’s home.

The Government hopes that technology can be used to ease the expected winter pressure on hospitals and other health services. The latest funding builds on the £21 million committed by DHSC in June 2023 for the deployment of Artificial Intelligence tools in areas such as diagnostics, and is part of the drive to deliver the MedTech strategy launched earlier this year.

Virtual wards are a key part of this move. DHSC say over 9,800 virtual ward beds have already been created and the NHS is on track to meet its target of 10,000 before winter.

NHS interim National Director of Transformation, Dr Vin Diwakar, said: “The NHS’s world-leading ability to adopt new technology has already helped more than 210,000 patients be treated in their own homes through the rollout of virtual wards, and this new funding will allow the health service to adopt more innovations that improve patient care and reduce pressure on wider services.”

 If you have any questions relating to development and approval of health tech products or heath sector procurement, please contact Rory Trust or Patrick Parkin. 

This articles was written by Rory Trust and Eilidh Sheach