Patients at risk if technology not delivered

Patients will miss out on new medical technologies and innovations due to a reduction in NICE assessment capacity.

That is the warning from The Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI) who say that cuts to the National Institute for Clinical Institute (NICE) will cause a delay in life saving devices and equipment reaching patients in England and Wales.

This delay, they say, will be caused by the decision to scrap one of the three NICE committees that assess new medical technologies. Justifying the move, the government argue there is a lack of new technologies seeking referral to NICE for assessment. John Wilkinson, Director General of the ABHI rejects this, he said: “It is certainly not the case that there is a lack of potentially life saving devices and systems that need evaluation.”


John Wilkinson of ABHI has
spoken out over NICE cut backs

Despite recent investment, the UK remains one of the slowest adopters of new medical technologies in the developed world. A recent health select committee report recognised that the potential benefits of new innovations are not being realised by the Department of Health and that improvements need to made.

Mr Wilkinson said: “It clearly makes no sense to invest in health but at the same time to massively cut investment in making sure the most effective and cost efficient treatments are used.”

NICE is also aware of the potential problems that could be caused by its reduced capacity. A NICE spokesperson said: “The institute knows that sometimes its guidance is published after drugs are licensed. It wants to minimise the time gap between licensing and publication so it is working hard in this direction.”