NHS will move from 'cheapest-first' to 'patient-first' approach to purchasing cutting-edge medical technology
- New procurement guidelines consider how well the tech works for patients, value for money, and impact on cutting waiting lists
- Plan for Change is transforming NHS investment, with data showing productivity for acute trusts increased by 2.7% over the past year
Patients will benefit from more effective, safer medical devices as the NHS revamps its approach to buying the latest medical technology to help keep patients safe and cut waiting lists.
The NHS currently spends around £10 billion per year on medical technology, but has previously opted to buy tech based primarily on cost rather than effectiveness. This new approach will save billions of pounds by considering how well the pioneering equipment works for patients in the long-term, supports patient and staff safety, and drives down future costs including warranty.
It forms part of the Government's drive to ensure better productivity across the NHS, with new data showing productivity for acute trusts increased by 2.7% over the past year - between April 2024 and March 2025 - exceeding the government's 2% year-on-year target set in the 10 Year Health Plan. As well as through better use of technology, this has been achieved by more same-day discharges, shorter hospital stays, reduced reliance on agency staff, improved staff retention, and sending in crack teams of top clinicians to underperforming trusts to drive rapid improvements.
On Thursday 25 September, Health Minister Zubir Ahmed visited Barts Health NHS Trust and saw first-hand the benefits of purchasing MedTech based on wider factors other than cheapest cost.
Health Minister Zubir Ahmed said:
Our Plan for Change is boosting NHS productivity and making sure every pound of taxpayer money works harder for patients than ever before.
As our greatest minds develop new lifesaving technology and the technological revolution takes off, we are doing away with the sticking plaster spending mentality and ensuring long term patient outcomes are at the heart of every spending decision.
We must invest to save, and by purchasing the most effective technology, not just the cheapest, we'll improve patient care, cut waiting times, and drive long-term cost savings - as we build an NHS fit for the future.
Better, more innovative medical technology is pivotal to cutting NHS waiting lists by supporting more productive and safer patient care and enabling faster and more accurate diagnostics. This means getting patients home quicker and freeing up staff time to allow them to see and treat more patients. The move represents a fundamental shift toward procurement practices that value continuity of supply over just cost.
In early trials, Barts tested an innovative mesh in procedures involving cardiology patients at high risk of infection. NHS Trusts were hesitant to purchase this product because of high cost and not knowing which patients would benefit in a cost-effective manner. But by investing in this innovation, Barts found it dramatically reduced infection rates and hospital re-admissions and even delivered approximate cost savings of more than £1,100 per patient per year - £103,000 saved annually for the Trust.
Bradley Day, Interim Managing Director at Barts Health NHS Trust said:
At Barts, we're really excited to see value-based procurement being scaled across the NHS.
The trust were early participants in the programme, using it to develop our BLISTER tool that has been proven to reduce cardiac device infections, enhance patient outcomes, and deliver over £103,0000 in annual savings. The tool, developed through a value-based procurement approach, is good for patients and good for taxpayers, as is the programme itself.' Bradley Day, Interim Managing Director, Barts Health NHS Trust.
Elsewhere, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust increased its use of a 'remote monitoring' function used in small, electronic devices implanted in the body to monitor, regulate, and treat irregular or dangerous heart rhythms. Investing in the technology can cost around £500 - £600 per patient, which deters many Trusts, but the pilot showed major benefits - including a huge 43% reduction in hospitalisations and reduced clinical follow-up time, freeing up clinicians to treat more patients.
Fiona Bride, Interim Chief Commercial Officer and Director of Medicines Value and Access at NHS England, said:
Value-based procurement has already improved how we secure medicines, and now it's being applied to the equipment patients rely on every day.
This is about more than cost. It's about working with suppliers to deliver technologies that bring real value - with better outcomes for patients, greater efficiency for the NHS, and sustainable care for the future.
Following early trials of the value-based procurement guidance and extensive engagement across the health system, including with industry and patient groups, 13 NHS Trusts will pilot the new guidance, with rollout across the NHS expected by early 2026.
As well as supporting individual trusts to purchase MedTech, the government is partnering with NHS Supply Chain and the NHS London Procurement Partnership to roll out value-based procurement across the country - including for purchasing technology and devices used in cardiology and vascular treatment and the use of AI in clinical settings. The NHS Supply Chain's Cardiology and Vascular Framework alone is worth approximately £1 billion.
Andrew New, CEO of NHS Supply Chain said:
Through Value Based Procurement we are able to ensure that procurement decisions are based on more than just product cost, with patient outcomes, sustainability and the total cost across the whole patient pathway key considerations.
As the national provider of procurement services, NHS Supply Chain is committed to working with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS Trusts to apply this approach through our contracts, with the first to go live via three frameworks as part of this pilot which will help us to learn and refine our approach for the future.
How NHS Trusts purchase medical technology differs across the health service - with the absence of any standard guidance. This makes it difficult for MedTech suppliers to do business with the NHS and drives suppliers away - blocking innovation from getting to the front line of patient care.
This new guidance will make the NHS an attractive place for the world's greatest minds to roll out ground-breaking new devices and technology to treat patients.
Lee Joseph, Managing Director of the NHS London Procurement Partnership (LPP) said:
The Value Based Procurement initiative signals a watershed moment in Commercial Innovation in the NHS and DHSC.
I am convinced that one of the best ways to improve the patient journey is to involve the supplier base in ownership and accountability of pathways and outcomes.
This programme represents a significant step in that journey, and I am thrilled that NHS London Procurement Partnership will be part of the upcoming pilot programme.
Through the Plan for Change, the government is turbocharging regulatory excellence and supporting economic growth through the life sciences sector so patients can get their medicines and medical devices, diagnostics and digital technologies faster.
