Why Partnership With Industry Is Essential to Deliver Safer Care
Topic : Value of Med Tech Type : Briefing
Delivering safer care is the bedrock on which quality, efficiency and public confidence in the NHS are built. Over recent years, we have made important progress, from the National Patient Safety Strategy to the introduction of Safety Management Systems, but achieving sustained, system-wide improvement depends on strong and purposeful partnership. That is why the new ABHI Patient Safety white paper arrives at such an important moment.
The challenges facing our healthcare system are well known: rising demand, workforce pressures, uneven adoption of technology, and variations in care that can lead to avoidable harm. These pressures make a relentless focus on safety even more vital. And they highlight the essential role that industry must play.
The HealthTech sector provides the tools, data and innovation that allow staff to work more safely and help patients achieve better outcomes. But its contribution cannot stop at technology alone. We need industry to embed safety science within its own organisations, and to work alongside the NHS to share learning, strengthen culture, and support the effective implementation of new products and pathways.
I am particularly encouraged to see alignment with the ambitions set out in the 10 Year Health Plan: a shift from analogue to digital care, a move from hospitals into communities, and a renewed emphasis on prevention. Each of these requires technologies that are designed, deployed and monitored with safety at their core. And each requires a shared commitment to transparency and accountability.
The white paper sets out how industry can help create this shift: by supporting the development of value-based, safety-enhancing procurement; by contributing expertise in human factors and data analysis; and by strengthening engagement with patients and families so that their insights directly inform improvement. This aligns with the commitment in the 10 Year Health Plan to launch a Value Based Procurement Standard Guidance and the introduction of a National Product Information Management (PIM) system to provide a single repository of medical devices, both of which will be in place from early next year.
Culture, too, is fundamental. Safety cannot thrive in environments where staff feel unable to speak up or where learning is not shared. Industry has an important part to play in supporting a just culture, one where openness, learning and professionalisation are the norm.
As we look ahead, we have a generational opportunity to design our system so that safety is built in, not bolted on. Achieving this requires collective effort, shared insight and a willingness to collaborate across organisational boundaries. The approach outlined by ABHI demonstrates the leadership and partnership that will be essential in the years ahead.
By working together, grounded in safety as a core value, we can reduce harm, protect staff, and deliver safer, more sustainable care for all.
David Lawson, Director of Medical Technology & Innovation, Department of Health and Social Care