UK

The Head of NHS England has announced recently, that England will start a pilot of much deeper integrated care in 9 areas, covering about 7 million people. Integration will tighten up the links between hospital, GP and social care. Integration will be organized in the form of so-called "accountable care systems".

In last two weeks of June, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published one Medtech Innovation Briefing (RIDASCREEN tests for monitoring infliximab in inflammatory bowel disease), four new interventional procedures guidance for vaginal vault prolapse and uterine prolapse and one new diagnostics guidance for multiple frequency bioimpedance devices to guide fluid management in people with chronic kidney disease having dialysis.

The Clinical Coding and Schedule Development Group develops and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclature for private payers in England. Several codes were added to both procedural and diagnostic Schedules, including procedures on spine and endoscopy procedure.

In first two weeks of June National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published two Medtech Innovation Briefings (Neo Pedicle Screw System for spinal fusion surgery and device for securing cerebrospinal fluid drainage catheters) and updated two clinical guidelines for head injury and spondyloarthritis in adults.

NHS England has announced expansion of the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme to cover another 25% of the population (Wave 2) in addition to the program, which has already covered about 50% of the population (Wave 1) and which was started last year. NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme is the program in England, which connects existing elements of health care system focused on prevention of diabetes and additional element of behavioral intervention for nondiabetic hyperglycaemia into a comprehensive program aimed on prevention of diabetes type II.

NCP is a program of centralized procurement of commonly used simple devices in the NHS in England. NHS Supply Chain makes procurement on behalf of all trusts and makes limited number of products available in its catalogue for order by individual trusts. The first products for centralized contracting in 2017 are couch rolls and blunt-fill syringes.

Eleven national population screening programmes are implemented in the NHS on the advice of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), which makes independent, evidence-based recommendations to ministers in the 4 UK countries. The Screening Quality Assurance Service ensures programmes are safe and effective by checking that national standards are met. Changes in 2017 are related to KPIs for bowel, breast, and cervical cancer screening.

In second two weeks of May, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published two Medtech Innovation Briefings (collagen paste for anal fistulae and portable pulse‑echo ultrasound device to assist diagnosis of osteoporosis) one Interventional Procedure Guidance for endoscopic full thickness removal of non-lifting colonic polyps.

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s Scientific Advice service is launching an online tool to help developers of medical devices and diagnostics understand and generate the evidence needed to show their products are clinically and cost effective. This will help companies prepare for a dialogue with health technology assessment organisations and payers and potentially speed up time to market.

In first two weeks of May NICE has published one Diagnostic Guidance, two Medtech Innovation Briefings, one Interventional Procedure Guidance, and has updated three Clinical Guidelines.

The Clinical Coding and Schedule Development Group develops and maintains procedural and diagnostics nomenclature for private payers in England. Several codes were added to both procedural and diagnostic Schedules, including multi-panel companion diagnostic test for cancer.