Analysing healthtech spend with Tussell
Gus’ presentation was followed by a panel discussion, where we heard from:
- Tom Slater, Commercial Director, NHS Digital
- Charlotte Lee, UK Director, BigHealth
- Tom Scott, Sales Director, Alcidion
Tussell analysed data from over 63, 000 invoices paid by healthcare bodies to tech companies since 2016, looking at three main areas.
- The size of the healthtech market
Since 2016, healthcare spending on tech has grown by 17% annually, averaging £1.4 billion per year. NHS Trusts account for 53% of healthtech spend, though in practice spend increasingly goes through Integrated Care Systems (ICSs).
Tussell highlighted that, adjusting for population, tech spending per capita by London-based Trusts was three times greater than the amount in the North East of England. This insight suggests that initiatives designed to boost NHS trusts that are already doing well and help those falling behind are increasing disparities in quality of care.
- Who is driving supply and demand?
Tussell have found that overall, the healthtech market is growing fast and disaggregating. While the average Trust spends £22 million per year on healthtech (9% of their non-clinical third-party procurement spending), more than half of this spending is going to the top 20 suppliers. However, these top suppliers have lost market share over the last 5 years, mostly to non-SMEs. It is likely this share of the market would have decreased even further had it not been for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although there is a bias towards extending the existing contract, looking at these trends helps identify where it is worth pre-engaging with potential customers to make the case you can offer a better cost.
- Where are the new business opportunities?
In total, there are 732 contract awards worth £595 million rolling off in the next 15 months.
The panel discussed spending on prevention versus spending on ‘sickness’, as it is likely that preventative spend will move increasingly to local authorities rather than CCGs. Although a focus on prevention is a high priority for Government, spending data indicates that the NHS still priorities reactive spending.
techUK’s recently published Ten Point Plan for Healthtech made a number of recommendations focusing on procurement, from signposting suppliers to existing frameworks to providing an accurate estimate for their total value and ensuring specialist training for staff buying technology. You can read the report to find out more here.
Leontina Postelnicu
Leontina Postelnicu
Leontina joined techUK in March 2020, where she is now heading up the organisation’s Health and Social Care programme. At the moment, she is also completing an MSc in Health Policy at Imperial College London.
A former journalist, Leontina previously worked for the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) as an associate editor for its International and Media divisions. There, she covered the EMEA region for Healthcare IT News, MobiHealthNews and HIMSS TV, with a focus on policy and innovation, and contributed to the Women in Health IT newsletter and HIMSS Insights eBook.
Outside of work, she enjoys reading, dancing, travelling and visiting her family in Romania, where she hails from.
- Email:
- [email protected]
Henry Rex
Henry Rex
Henry is Associate Director for Government and Health at techUK. responsible for our Central Government Programme, Public Services Board, and Health & Social Care Programme.
He is responsible for managing strategic relationships across Whitehall and the NHS, working with individual departments and cross-cutting Government functions to promote better engagement between the public sector and the tech industry.
Henry originally joined techUK in February 2016 as the Programme Manager for Justice and Emergency Services. Prior to joining techUK he worked as the Policy and Communications Officer in the Centre for Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge. In this role he ran programmes to enhance knowledge exchange between academia and government, with a particular focus on issues of national security, law enforcement and defence. Henry was also responsible for advising on CSaP's communications strategy.
He holds an MA(Hons) in Classics from the University of St Andrews. After graduating he worked in a west London law firm, followed by a spell in the House of Commons, before taking up his position at CSaP.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Phone:
- 020 7331 2017
- Twitter:
- @techUK
- Website:
- www.techuk.org
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/henry-rex-6a355957/
Alex Lawrence
Alex Lawrence
Alex joined techUK in July 2021, where she is now Programme Manager for Health and Social Care.
Alex formerly worked at Portland Communications, joining as part of their 2019 Graduate Scheme intake. In March 2020 she joined Portland’s Health team, supporting a range of clients in the life sciences industry across both public affairs and strategic communications.
Alex has a degree in History from the University of Cambridge, focussing on Early Modern Europe and material culture. Outside of work she enjoys reading, finding new places to eat, and running.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Phone:
- 07963 501 791
- LinkedIn:
- linkedin.com/in/alex-lawrence-509a8b166,linkedin.com/in/alex-lawrence-509a8b166