02-07-2025
NHS ‘passports' will see new innovations rolled out to cut red tape
Mr Streeting said it would mean an end to the 'postcode lottery for life-saving products', while 'companies will be able to get their technology used across the NHS more easily'.
An example of such innovations include special wound dressings, rapid flu testing and artificial intelligence appointment booking platforms.
New wound dressings are reducing infections by 38 per cent at Barking, Havering ∧ Redbridge University Hospitals and could be adopted across the country, the Department of Health said.
Rapid flu testing at University Hospitals Dorset has cut the time patients spend in hospital alongside antibiotic use.
Roll out of technology
Dr Benyamin Deldar, a clinical entrepreneur fellow at NHS England and the co-founder of Deep Medical, which runs an AI booking system already used by some NHS hospitals, told The Telegraph it would save up to 'six months of red tape'.
The AI system predicts no-shows based on a range of factors and maximises doctors time by reducing the chance of a missed appointment, cutting them by up to 30 per cent.
'Deploying in each new trust can take up to nine months because the same Information Governance checks are repeated; an 'innovator passport' would cut between three to six months of red tape, letting patients benefit far sooner,' said Dr Deldar.
The passport will be introduced over the next two years and will mean technology that has been robustly assessed by one NHS organisation can easily be rolled out to others.
The Department of Health said this would remove 'needless bureaucracy' and create a 'dynamic best buyer's guide', while also helping boost economic growth.
MedTech Compass aims to make these innovations, and the evidence underpinning them, clearer to buyers within the NHS.
'Positive step'
Dr Vin Diwakar, the clinical transformation director at NHS England, said: 'We're seeing the impact improvements to technology are having on our everyday lives on everything from smartwatches to fitness trackers – and we want to make sure NHS patients can benefit from the latest medical technology and innovations as well.
'The new innovator passports will speed up the rollout of new health technology in the NHS which has been proven to be effective, so that patients can benefit from new treatments much sooner.'
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents health organisations, said it was a 'positive step towards reducing duplication, making innovation more agile and accessible, and streamlining how technology is rolled out across the health service'.
'But it will be vital to ensure that important compliance processes are also kept in place to safeguard clinical and patient safety, data protection and strict Medtech regulation,' he added.
