NHS to speed up technology use

The NHS is slow to make use of new technology

A scheme to speed up the introduction of cutting-edge technology in the NHS has been launched.

The NHS has long been criticised for being slow to adopt new gadgets.

Around 15 life-saving technologies will be introduced over three years, including a blood flow monitor which could save the NHS £500m a year.

The NHS Technology Adoption Hub, based in Manchester, was set up after an advisory group found innovations were not reaching patients.

The Healthcare Industries Task Force, set up to promote better use of medical technology within the NHS, concluded three years ago that better promotion was needed for new ideas.

It is vital that new life-saving, cost-effective technologies are adopted as quickly as possible through the NHS Margaret Parton, National Technology Adoption Hub

In 2005, the Health Select Committee warned the NHS was lagging behind many other countries in the take-up of modern equipment and spent less than the European average on medical technology.

One of the devices to be looked at under the new programme - the CardioQ Oesophageal Doppler machine - monitors the amount of blood circulating in patients undergoing major surgery.

It tells doctors if the patient needs additional fluid, helping them to recover much more quickly after the operation.

The Hub is also looking at a machine to diagnose whether men with an enlarged prostate would benefit from surgery.

An ECG machine which can be used by GPs in their practice and the results read remotely by experts, reducing the need for patients to attend hospital clinics, is also being introduced.

Barriers

Each technology will be implemented in three trusts before adoption is encouraged across the whole of the NHS.

Margaret Parton, head of the National Technology Adoption Hub said all the technologies chosen had been proven to be effective but for some reason most people did not have access to them.

"It is vital that new life-saving, cost-effective technologies are adopted as quickly as possible through the NHS.

"The National Technology Adoption Hub will streamline and speed up the process."

She said individual trusts were nervous about taking the "risk" of buying expensive equipment that wouldn't be used.

"One of the biggest issues is that adopting new technology is very disruptive - what we're doing is breaking down those barriers and supporting trusts."

Health minister Lord Ara Darzi, who is also a practising surgeon, said: "It is encouraging to see the NHS continually striving to find the best standards of care, using the latest available techniques, for its patients."

Richard Phillips, a spokesman for the Medical Technology Group, a campaign body, said he hoped the Hub would speed up the process.

"Medical technologies are going through several different appraisal channels, including the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, yet even when approved they are not being widely used in the NHS.

"It simply takes too long for new developments to be taken up for use in the NHS. This Hub has the potential to change that."

He added there were some "serious challenges" in getting already approved technologies implemented more quickly and consistently across the NHS.