NHS is failing to reap benefit of new technologies, MPs say
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《英国医生杂志》
The NHS must overcome its preference for short term savings and develop strategies to stop the current underuse of new medical technologies, a parliamentary advisory committee recommended in a report published last week.
The House of Commons Health Committee, an all party committee of MPs that scrutinises Department of Health expenditure and policy, found that the potential benefits of new medical technologies, including telemedicine and computer systems, were not being realised by the NHS. The report noted that the United Kingdom spent only 0.36% of its gross domestic product on medical technology. The European average is 0.55%.
Dr Woodrow Kessler of Holmes, Pennsylvania, uses a video camera to send pictures of his patient's ear to a doctor at another location. Doctors in the United Kingdom have been slow to adopt such technology
Credit: WILLIAM THOMAS CAIN/GETTY
After hearing evidence from a range of specialists in medical technology and from companies and other organisations, the committee blamed the fragmented nature of the NHS—which is made up of 700 trusts—for inconsistent policies and practices in relation to the development of new technology, its application, and purchasing policies. It said this fragmentation had resulted in variation in the availability of technologies to patients. A further problem was "the NHS preference for short-term savings as opposed to long-term advantages for patients."
It welcomed the establishment of the Healthcare Industries Task Force by the health department to improve use of new technologies.
It suggested that nationally approved standards for the commissioning of new technologies should be developed, together with measures to enable budgets to be transferred between budget holders. Trusts should be encouraged to identify "clinical champions" to promote the benefits of telemedicine in each trust and to ensure that the organisational requirements were in place and that staffing was developed to make the system workable.
Trudie Lobban, a member of the Medical Technology Group, a coalition of patients' groups, medical professionals, and industry representatives that submitted evidence to the inquiry, said: "The recommendations are good news for NHS patients. The system of `silo' budgeting—where decisions to use a technology depend on specific departmental budgets—in the NHS at the moment means that wider cost and patient benefits are not being considered. The UK doesn't spend nearly as much on medical technology as the rest of western Europe."(Susan Mayor)
The House of Commons Health Committee, an all party committee of MPs that scrutinises Department of Health expenditure and policy, found that the potential benefits of new medical technologies, including telemedicine and computer systems, were not being realised by the NHS. The report noted that the United Kingdom spent only 0.36% of its gross domestic product on medical technology. The European average is 0.55%.
Dr Woodrow Kessler of Holmes, Pennsylvania, uses a video camera to send pictures of his patient's ear to a doctor at another location. Doctors in the United Kingdom have been slow to adopt such technology
Credit: WILLIAM THOMAS CAIN/GETTY
After hearing evidence from a range of specialists in medical technology and from companies and other organisations, the committee blamed the fragmented nature of the NHS—which is made up of 700 trusts—for inconsistent policies and practices in relation to the development of new technology, its application, and purchasing policies. It said this fragmentation had resulted in variation in the availability of technologies to patients. A further problem was "the NHS preference for short-term savings as opposed to long-term advantages for patients."
It welcomed the establishment of the Healthcare Industries Task Force by the health department to improve use of new technologies.
It suggested that nationally approved standards for the commissioning of new technologies should be developed, together with measures to enable budgets to be transferred between budget holders. Trusts should be encouraged to identify "clinical champions" to promote the benefits of telemedicine in each trust and to ensure that the organisational requirements were in place and that staffing was developed to make the system workable.
Trudie Lobban, a member of the Medical Technology Group, a coalition of patients' groups, medical professionals, and industry representatives that submitted evidence to the inquiry, said: "The recommendations are good news for NHS patients. The system of `silo' budgeting—where decisions to use a technology depend on specific departmental budgets—in the NHS at the moment means that wider cost and patient benefits are not being considered. The UK doesn't spend nearly as much on medical technology as the rest of western Europe."(Susan Mayor)