Stoma products

In February 2026, the Royal Decree was issued, regulating the selective financing procedure for certain health products – specifically, some types of medical aids – covered under the pharmaceutical benefit of the National Health System for non-hospitalized patients, and establishing the margins for their distribution and dispensing. The new regulation will update the old framework in place since 1996, establishing a clear, transparent, and structured system for selective financing and price-setting, with uniform criteria for the inclusion, modification, and exclusion of health products. The regulation will enter into force on July 1, 2026.

In July 2025, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published one new Interventional Procedures Guidance on pulsed-field ablation in atrial fibrillation, one new Early Value Assessment on digital technologies in anxiety and depression, and two new Late Stage Assessments (One-piece closed bags for colostomies, intermittent urethral catheters for chronic incomplete bladder emptying).

In Q3 2024, Health Technology Wales completed three full appraisals with the publication of Evidence Appraisal Report and Guidance (AI for whole slide prostate biopsy images, AI-assisted endoscopy for gastrointestinal cancer, and Floseal in the treatment of epistaxis). Furthermore, 24 Med Tech-related Topic Exploration Reports were published concerning cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, gynecology, e-health, in-vitro diagnostics, and other areas.

In the early July 2018, the authorities of the Italian region Veneto brought a decree that updates the regional guidelines for the management of patients with colostomy, ileostomy and urostomy that were published in January 2017.