Two new reports from the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) reveal the UK urgently needs to deliver a medical technology industrial strategy to avoid falling behind in the rapidly growing health technology sector in the UK.
The reports warn that unless the government does not step in to support the industry, the UK could be losing out on highly skilled jobs and billions of pounds in revenue. In 2021, the UK health technology sector consisted of 4353 businesses with a £30 billion turnover employing over 145,600 people across 4802 UK sites, according to data from the Office for Life Sciences.
Challenges and Opportunities for UK HealthTech Manufacturing Scale Up highlights that many companies have moved, or are considering moving, overseas to benefit from more competitive pricing and more flexible manufacturing processes.
Over 90% of UK-based medical technology companies are SMEs, making a complex manufacturing and regulatory landscape challenging. As one respondent highlights in the report: “It was my big goal to make [the product] in the UK. I tried to do it two years ago but failed because I didn’t have the support with bringing all the factories together. A lot of the companies were unresponsive because I was so small scale.”
A further case study highlighted in East Asia companies will get support to join up supply chains to provide a ‘product in a box’, compared with the UK where companies have to build up their own supply chain. The costs of tooling in East Asia are also up to five times cheaper and with much shorter lead times.
Published against a backdrop of growing waiting lists, with over seven million people currently waiting for care according to NHS England, medical technologies provide innovative solutions to diagnosis and treatment which could lead the way in solving some of our biggest health challenges. The reports highlight that UK medical technology businesses want to keep their products in the UK, governments overseas provide more support to the sector, allowing for manufacturers in other countries to provide services at much more competitive rates.
Rahul Kapoor, HealthTech Director at CPI, said: “We urgently need a health tech industrial growth strategy. The barriers identified in these reports must be lifted, to allow UK to tap into the full growth potential. Health tech is a significant contributor to the UK economy with an annual turnover of nearly £30 billion and allows patients to live healthier and longer lives. Government support to accelerate UK health tech ecosystem can drive industrial growth and help accelerate UK’s life sciences growth ambitions on our shores.”
A second report – An Action Plan: Driving Growth of the UK Digital Health Industry – maps the changes needed for the UK to maximise its vast global potential in the digital health market. As the largest subsector within HealthTech, digital health consists of products that collect, process or use data within a healthcare setting, including electronic patient records, image analysis tools and connected wearable devices. This report shows that this fast-growing industry is being hampered in the UK by capacity issues and slow pace. “Action is needed now to maintain our leadership position and maximise growth,” the report states.
Challenges and Opportunities for UK HealthTech Manufacturing Scale Up, led by the CPI in collaboration with ABHI (Association of British HealthTech Industries) and funding from Innovate UK -- is based on interviews, surveys and workshops with about 100 UK companies within the sector. An Action Plan: Driving Growth of the UK Digital Health Industry, written in conjunction with Cambridge Design Partnership and Innovate UK, reflects insights from over 50 stakeholders across the digital health ecosystem.
Read both reports at - https://www.uk-cpi.com/news/cpi-reports-reveal-challenges-and-opportunities-for-uk-healthtech.
CPI is a pioneering social enterprise that accelerates the development, scale-up and commercialisation of deep tech and sustainable manufacturing solutions. Through its innovation experts and infrastructure, it is aiming to transform healthcare and drive towards a sustainable future. Learn more at the website - uk-cpi.com.