Cost-saving, outcomes-based innovations available to procure at zero cost via new Tariff

NHS England has published technical guidance for the Innovation and Technology Tariff (ITT) which went live on 1 April 2017.

The ITT was introduced to incentivise the adoption and spread of transformational innovation in the NHS. Comprising six themes for 2017-19, four of the innovations are funded under a zero-cost model, enabling providers to purchase them directly from the supplier at no cost. For the other two innovations, providers will be reimbursed based on use.

The themes for the ITT were sought in conjunction with the NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA), and four NIA innovations meet the 2017-19 ITT specifications. These include:

• MyCOPD: Online self-management system for COPD proven to reduce acute hospital admissions, NHS spending, and improve the quality of patients’ lives. A CCG with an average COPD population of 5,000 patients would expect to make savings in the first year alone of over £200,000 if deployed to 60-80% if their COPD population.

• The Non-Injectable Arterial Connector (NIC): Patient safety device which stops medication being accidentally given through the arterial lines used to monitor the blood of patients in ICUs and operating theatres. Improves safety while saving £285 per trust per year in equipment costs alone.

• PneuX Prevention System: Patient safety device designed to stop ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), affecting some 20,000 patients each year, around a third of whom will die, with each episode costing the NHS between £10,000 and £20,000.

• Episcissors-60: Guiding mediolateral episiotomy evidenced to minimise the risk of obstetric anal sphincter injury (OASIS), delivering savings through reduced litigation costs, elective caesarean sections and repair (£1,625 per patient).

Details of the impact, evidence base and cost-savings of the above are outlined in Implementation Toolkits produced by the NIA, and available to download here: myCOPD, NIC, PneuX Prevention System, Episcissors-60.

Innovations included on the Tariff which are not part of the NIA programme, include:

• UroLift: System treatment enabling a minimally invasive approach to treating an enlarged prostate, or BPH, that lifts or holds the enlarged prostate tissue out of the way so it no longer blocks the urethra.
• Faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT): Provision of a screened specially prepared stool administered via a nasal tube into the intestine to restore the balance of bacteria in the gut. FMT is a NICE recommended treatment for Chronic CDI.

In parallel, but separately from the ITT, NHS England is centrally funding the purchase of mobile ECG technology. A further NIA innovation, AliveCor’s Kardia, meets the stringent specification of this technology, which will be available and managed via the AHSN Network. Contact UCLPartners for more information.

NHS Providers and CCGs are invited to attend an event hosted by the NIA to find out more about the ITT and the innovations now available to procure free of charge.

‘Improving outcomes, cutting costs: Procuring NIA innovations via the Innovation and Technology Tariff’ takes place from 4.00pm-6.00pm on Tuesday 30 May at UCLPartners. Register to attend here