The Medical Technology Group (MTG) is a not for profit organisation in the United Kingdom comprising patient groups, research charities and medical device manufacturers. Its stated aim is to "work together to improve patient access to effective medical technologies". The Group launched in 2000.
Contents
Membership
Current members of the MTG are:
Déjà Review - what lessons can be learned from the past?
In June 2016, the Medical Technology Group published its report 'Déjà Review - what lessons can be learned from the past?'. The report identified 17 different organisations or initiatives that have been launched with the aim of promoting innovation in the NHS over the previous ten years. In Déjà Review, the MTG noted that the NHS has historically and consistently failed to apply any learnings from the previous reviews, including 2011’s much-quoted Innovation, Health and Wealth (IHW).
Unplanned Admissions
In 2015 the Medical Technology Group contacted every acute Trust and Clinical Commissioning Group in England to identify the level of unplanned or emergency hospital admissions for urology, diabetes and heart failure. The research found that unplanned and emergency hospital admissions account for more than a third of all hospital admissions - 5.4 million in total - and two thirds of all hospital bed days. It also found that the NHS spent £434 million in 2013/14 treating over 180,000 hospital patients with an unplanned admission for a urinary tract infection; unplanned admissions owing to diabetic complications cost over £200 million each year. Additional findings were that each NHS Trust handles on average over 100 deaths each year from congestive heart failure, but with regional differences in approach and success rates: for example 66% of presenting heart patients in the Southwest were treated in hospital compared to just 16% in the West Midlands.
Innovation, Health & Wealth Scorecard
In June 2015 the MTG published its review of the 2011 Innovation, Health & Wealth report by NHS Improvement & Efficiency, Innovation and Service Improvement. The Scorecard reviewed progress against the six areas identified by the NHS as those where Clinical Commissioning Groups and acute Trusts could improve patient care through high impact innovations. The report revealed a very mixed picture, with both CCGs and Trusts in some areas performing much worse than others, and some regions of the country drastically underperforming.
Infection Control
Following a Freedom of Information request to all NHS Acute Trusts in England, in September 2014 the MTG published a report: Infection Prevention and Control – Combatting a problem that has not gone away that revealed that the majority of Trusts were unaware of the full scale or the operational and financial impact of five common infections: sepsis; catheter-associated urinary tract infections; catheter-related blood infections; ventilator-associated pneumonia; and norovirus. The MTG called on the Government to develop a strategy for using technology for infection prevention and control.
Hip and knee surgery
In November 2013, the MTG published a report into waiting times for knee and hip replacements on the National Health Service. The report, Hip and Knee Surgery: Combating Patient Lotteries, reviewed ten years of government data on knee and hip replacement, and data from Freedom of Information requests to acute NHS hospital trusts in England. The report suggested that patient experiences vary significantly according to the financial calendar and where they live.
Work Foundation report
In November 2011, The Work Foundation published a report, Adding Value: The Economic and Societal Benefits of Medical Technology, funded by a research grant from the MTG. The report, which was launched in the House of Commons, identified three key areas of benefits from medical technologies:
Uterine artery/fibroid embolisation (UFE)
In 2011 the MTG and patient support group FEmISA published a report, The provision of and access to Uterine Artery/Fibroid, a less invasive treatment for fibroids for women. The report, which was welcomed by the British Society of Interventional Radiologists, highlighted a lack of coherent commissioning in England, despite National Institute for Health and Care Excellence clinical guidelines recommending UFE as a first line treatment for symptomatic fibroids.
Insulin pump provision
In 2010 the MTG made a Freedom of Information request to Primary Care Trusts in England on the provision of insulin pumps to patients with Type 1 diabetes. It found the average to be 3.9 per cent compared to the 12 per cent benchmark recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. The findings were the subject of an Early Day Motion tabled by Adrian Sanders MP on December 9, 2010.
Medical technology
In 2004, the MTG's report Making the Economic Case for Medical Technology suggested that increasing the provision of medical technology can "help patients better manage their conditions" and lead a "longer and relatively healthy life". It also suggested that by making greater use of technology there are cost benefits for the National Health Service. The report was the subject of an Early Day Motion tabled by Ian Gibson MP. The motion was signed by 30 Members of Parliament.
Organisation
The MTG is chaired by Barbara Harpham, National Director of Heart Research UK. She has been quoted as saying that the UK lags behind other European countries in the take-up of medical technology.