UK

NHS England announced that the specialized High-Cost Tariff-Excluded Devices (HCTED) program is restarted working with NHS providers and NHS Supply Chain colleagues, throughout July and August 2020.

NHS England Clinical Reference Group Stakeholder Registration opened on April 3, 2019, and will continue till December 31, 2020.

On August 03, 2020, King’s Fund issued a report on technology and innovation for long-term health conditions. It was commissioned by Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) in England to explore four different digital innovations in health services from the UK and the Nordic countries to demonstrate transformative potential and compare and contrast themes across geographies.

On September 03, 2020, National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) opened HTA researcher-led proposal submissions. The proposals can be related to any health problem and should be within the scope of the HTA Program. The closing date is January 6, 2021.

On September 03, 2020, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) issued medical technologies guidance on Axonics sacral neuromodulation (SNM) system for treating refractory overactive bladder. NICE recommended Axonics SNM to be adopted in the NHS and considered as an alternative when another treatment is not effective.

The NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) has launched its call for applications representing high impact, evidence-based innovations from September 01, 2020. The application deadline is October 16, 2020. NIA is an award-winning national initiative supported by England’s 15 Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs), which helps dedicated innovations to spread more comprehensively in the healthcare system.

In July 2020, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published two new interventional procedure guidance (for artificial iris insertion for acquired aniridia and for congenital aniridia), and two Medtech innovation briefings (for Prontosan for acute and chronic wounds, and CFHealthHub for managing cystic fibrosis during the COVID-19 pandemic).

The Clinical Coding and Schedule Development (CCSD) group develops and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclature for private payers in England. New procedure codes concern planning, insertion, and removal of high/low dose rate radioactive treatment (brachytherapy) into a prostate tumor, open/laparoscopic repair of Spigelian hernia, and others. The codes are introduced with a recommended adoption date being the 1st of August 2020. The document also contains a list of textual changes in codes and unacceptable combinations. There were no changes to the CCSD Schedule of Diagnostic Tests.

In June 2020, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published one new diagnostics guidance (tests to help assess the risk of acute kidney injury for people being considered for critical care admission), one new interventional procedure guidance (for intravascular lithotripsy for calcified coronary arteries during percutaneous coronary intervention), one new medical technologies guidance (for Rezum for treating lower urinary tract symptoms secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia), and four Medtech innovation briefings (for MolecuLight i:X for wound imaging and others).

In June 2020, NHS England announced that it is accelerating the use of stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) requiring fewer doses than standard radiotherapy, decreasing the number of hospital visits that potentially vulnerable patients need to undergo. It will now be available through the NHS by the end of the current financial year, rather than full rollout by 2022.

From June 2020, NHS England will provide patients with cystic fibrosis and those recovering from coronavirus with devices and apps so physicians can track their condition remotely as part of the NHS drive to deliver connected, assisted, personalized care to more individuals in their own homes.

On June 9, 2020, NHS England announced new online services for diabetes patients. This remote support will supplement the appointments of patients, many of whom have been going on during the pandemic, via video or telephone consultations, and more recently in protected areas under COVID.