Market Access for Medical Technologies in England

In February 2026, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published three new HealthTech Guidances (HTGs) on transcatheter tricuspid valve implantation, leadless cardiac pacemakers for bradyarrhythmia, and pulmonary artery pressure technologies for remote monitoring of chronic heart failure. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) develops HealthTech Guidance (HTG) to evaluate HealthTech products (such as diagnostics, medical devices, and digital technologies, including artificial intelligence) and interventional procedures. The program focuses on assessing the clinical and cost-effectiveness of HealthTech products and the safety and efficacy of interventional procedures. NICE uses a lifecycle approach for HTG, reflecting the development stage of technology: Early use (innovative technologies with potential to address NHS unmet needs but insufficient evidence); Routine use (innovative technologies with sufficient evidence for widespread NHS adoption); Existing use (assess technologies in widespread use in the NHS to inform commissioning and procurement decisions). NICE generally makes four types of recommendations: “Can be used” is the most favorable recommendation, meaning routine NHS use; “Can be used during the evidence generation period” – recommendation is conditional on evidence generation; “More research is needed” – limits the use to research settings only; “Should not be used”. The exception is existing use HTG, which recommends whether any technology should be used over other similar technologies in widespread NHS use, and what to consider when choosing between them. Recommendations are not binding, although they are typically followed by providers and commissioners. In February 2026, NICE released three new HTGs: Transcatheter tricuspid valve implantation for symptomatic severe tricuspid regurgitation is recommended during the evidence generation period as an option to treat symptomatic severe tricuspid regurgitation when open surgical tricuspid valve repair or replacement is high risk, and transcatheter tricuspid valve repair is unsuitable. More research is needed on the procedure before it can be used in the NHS when open surgical tricuspid valve repair or replacement is not high risk, or transcatheter tricuspid valve repair is suitable. Leadless cardiac pacemaker implantation for bradyarrhythmias received different recommendations based on the indications: • The procedure can be used as an option for right ventricular pacing alone for bradyarrhythmia; • When transvenous pacing is unsuitable, the procedure can be used during the evidence generation period for dual-chamber pacing or right atrial pacing alone for bradyarrhythmia; • When transvenous pacing is suitable, more research is needed on the procedure for dual-chamber pacing or right atrial pacing alone for bradyarrhythmia. Routine-use HTG on pulmonary artery pressure technologies for remote monitoring of chronic heart failure made the following recommendations: • CardioMEMS HF System (by Abbott) can be used as an option for remote monitoring of New York Heart Association (NYHA) class 3 chronic heart failure in adults at risk of hospitalization who are able to use the technology (with the help of a carer if necessary) and willing to adjust medication as directed; • More research is needed (on the clinical effectiveness, the short-term impact of the technology on quality of life, and defining which groups of people the technology is most suitable for) on the Cordella Pulmonary Artery Sensor System and the Cordella Heart Failure System (by Endotronix/Edwards Lifesciences) for remote monitoring of NYHA class 3 chronic heart failure in adults before it can be funded by the NHS. See the full details here. This news is just one of about 300 market access news collected by our team in the premium subscription service Market Access Monitor every week from more than 80 organizations. Access our paid service to stay on top of all developments specifically for your products in Europe (reimbursement news) and globally (HTA news). Access is organized as an online Database and email alert formats. Contact us to get a free, three-month, no-obligation trial.

On February 4, 2026, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England published the National Cancer Plan for England, setting out a decade-long, technology-enabled transformation of cancer services, with substantial commitments to diagnostics, AI, genomics, robotic surgery, digital tools, and innovation-driven care pathways. The key ambition is that, by 2035, three out of four people diagnosed with cancer will be cancer-free, or living well with cancer after five years.

On February 9, 2026, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) announced the launch of the new National Healthtech Access Programme (NHAP). The NHAP will expand NICE’s Technology Appraisals programme to include health technologies beyond medicines (medical devices, diagnostics, and digital tools), allowing mandatory reimbursement of recommended technologies. The first two NHAP topics are capsule sponge tests for detecting oesophageal cancer and AI tools for identifying prostate and breast cancer.