The NHS At 71, And The Future Of Medtech
For an incredible 7 decades, the NHS has been providing cradle-to-grave care; how will new medtech innovation measures affect the future of UK healthcare?
For an incredible 7 decades, the UK’s National Health Service has been providing cradle-to-grave healthcare, often under challenging circumstances. At 71 years old, the NHS is already 5 years older than the average man expected to live when it was formed in 1948, so we at RIFT thought it was well past time we paid tribute to the greatest of British institutions by talking about the impact of innovation in Medical Technologies.
At RIFT R&D, we see a lot of MedTech claims each year, from complex blood splitting technologies and specialised joint replacement parts to psychometric testing software and advanced DNA plates. Each of these developments is grounded in solid, methodical innovation - and they’re perfect examples of why R&D is so central to UK life and business. It’s no coincidence that the government’s R&D Tax Credits system is the largest incentive and reward scheme of its kind. When you’re out there on the, possibly literal, cutting edge of thinking, you’re not just solving your own problems. You’re actively pushing back the borders of what we know, understand and can achieve as a nation.
With MedTech, those innovations in tools, techniques and approaches are having a direct impact on people’s lives – both in terms of quality and quantity. Advancements in MedTech aren’t just about saving money or doing better business. In a lot of cases, we’re talking about actual life-saving innovations. When those developments make their way into NHS use, their impact is multiplied out to a national scale.
Every 36 hours in England alone, the NHS takes care of over a million sick and injured people. When it launched, its initial budget was just £437 million (around £9 billion in today’s money). By 2016/17, that figure had risen to £122.5 billion – almost 30% of all UK public spending. Even so, there’s only so far that money can stretch. That’s a big part of why MedTech innovation is so valuable. When corners get cut in healthcare, so do lifespans. The pressure is always on to find better, more effective and more efficient ways to help people, and it’s no exaggeration to say that the health of the whole UK is at stake.
When resources and funding in the healthcare sector are stretched, R&D Tax Credits become ever more critical. NHS funding is always at the forefront of government thinking. However, with an ageing population, that funding’s under near-constant strain. Anything that makes innovation easier, safer and more rewarding works toward keeping the NHS operating at a world-class level – and that’s what R&D tax relief does better than anything else. As the NHS England board puts it:
“Innovation is critical to enabling NHS England to achieve the ambitions set out in the Mandate, to ramp up the pace and scale of change, and deliver better outcomes for patients across all five domains of the NHS Outcomes Framework.”
Talk to RIFT about your MedTech R&D claim. Our experts speak your language, and we’ll make sure you always get the very most from your innovations.
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