Greater Manchester, National

Innovation and Technology Payment

Programme closed April 2021

The Innovation and Technology Payment (ITP) was an NHS England programme that ran up to April 2021, to accelerate adoption of innovative medical devices, diagnostics, and digital products by removing some of the financial and procurement barriers.

Whilst national funding is no longer provided, the Accelerated Access Collaborative is encouraging NHS trusts to sustain these innovations through local funding agreements.

The products are listed below – NHS trusts that would like support to develop their own local business cases or evaluations to enable sustained adoption, are invited to contact their local AHSN. Health Innovation Manchester is the AHSN for Greater Manchester and East Cheshire – contact us.

ITP themes (up to 31 March 2021)

  • Placental growth factor (PIGF) based tests to help rule out pre-eclampsia quickly so that pregnant women receive the most appropriate care
  • HeartFlow FFRCT – analysis which creates a 3D model of the coronary arteries to help clinicians to rapidly diagnose patients with suspected coronary artery disease from coronary CT angiography
  • gammaCore – non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation therapy for the treatment of cluster migraine
  • SpaceOAR – an absorbable spacer to reduce rectum radiation exposure during prostate radiation therapy
  • Non-Injectable Arterial Connector – an arterial connecting system to reduce bacterial contamination and the accidental administration of medication
  • Plus Sutures – a new type of surgical suture that reduces the rate of Surgical Site Infection (SSI)
  • SecurAcath is a device to secure catheters for patients with a peripherally inserted central catheter
  • Endocuff Vision – a medical device which attaches to the distal end of an endoscope and improves colorectal examination for patients undergoing bowel cancer tests

Additionally, two themes received support through the Evidence Generation Fund:

  • Digital apps to support emergency/crisis mental health assessments
  • Interoperable personal health record tool.

Previous ITP Programmes

The NHS Innovation and Technology Payment (ITP) 2019/20 programme went live on 1 April 2019, and built on the Innovation and Technology Tariff (ITT) and ITP 2018/19.

The ITP aims to remove barriers to the spread and adoption of innovative products or technologies (medical devices, digital platforms and technologies), including financial negotiations. The programme forms part of a wider set of activities to support innovation in the NHS, led by NHS England in partnership with the AHSN Network.

Themes supported included:

  • SpaceOAR Hydrogel
  • gammaCore
  • Placental growth factor (PIGF) based testing
  • High-sensitivity troponin testing

UPDATE 2020: Many products supported by Health Innovation Manchester through ITP or as a rapid uptake product RUP have successfully met their objective – to accelerate the introduction of such products into routine use in the NHS.

Episcissors, PneuX, DrDoctor, Urolift, HS Troponin and FIT have been supported in increasing adoption and uptake in NHS settings, and Trusts where they are in use will now have a good understanding of the merits of these products. Central support for these products concluded on 31st March 2020. NHS providers are free to continue using them under local funding models.

At the start of November 2016, NHS England set out plans to fast-track the introduction of six new types of medical technology products and apps during 2017/18 through the Innovation and Technology Tariff (ITT). The ITT removes the need for multiple local price negotiations and guarantees automatic reimbursement.

For five of the above, NHS England will centrally pick up the costs where these have been incurred in line with requirements about use. The sixth innovation is an alternative to existing surgical procedures, and is already funded as part of tariff calculations.

The ITT innovations are:

  • Episcissors 60- a guided mediolateral episiotomy tool to minimise the risk of obstetric anal sphincter injury
  • Non-injectable arterial connector (NIC) – Arterial connecting systems to reduce bacterial contamination and the accidental administration of medication
  • Pnuex – Pneumonia prevention systems which are designed to stop ventilator-associated pneumonia
  • myCOPD– a web based application for the self-management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
  • Frozen Faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) – for recurrent Clostridium difficile infection rates
  • Urolift – for management of Benign prostatic hyperplasia as a day case (purchased through National Tariff)

Separately from the tariff, NHS England is centrally funding the purchase of mobile ECG technology, which will be managed through the AHSN Network.

The ITT went live on 1 April 2017 and NHS England is keen to encourage the adoption and spread of these technologies. You can find out more about procuring NIA innovations via the ITT here.

The NHS England Innovation and Technology Payment (ITP) 2017/18 was launched by NHS England in June 2017, and built on the existing Innovation and Technology Tariff (ITT). It was designed to support the NHS to adopt innovation by removing financial or procurement barriers to the uptake of products and technologies, and was delivered in partnership with the AHSNs, along with other sponsors and national and international experts. The aim was to enable successful applicants’ innovations (such as medical devices, digital platforms and technologies) to be fast tracked for use in the NHS.

Applications for innovations to be included in the ITP were invited between June and September 2017.  270 applications were received, and through a sifting process reduced to a shortlist of 20 which went through to the selection panel in December 2017.  4 innovations were selected for national roll out and 1 was identified for national pilot.

Successful innovations from this year’s ITP are:

  • HeartFlow – Advanced image analysis software that creates a 3D model of the coronary arteries and analyses the impact that blockages have on blood flow to rapidly diagnose patients with suspected coronary artery disease. The use of the device can avoid the need for invasive investigations such as coronary angiography, usually carried out under local anaesthetic, where a catheter is passed through the blood vessels to the heart to release a dye before X-rays are taken. NICE estimate up to 35,000 people per year could be eligible – Heartflow-ITP-flyer
  • Plus Sutures – A new type of surgical suture – stitching – that reduces the rate of surgery-linked infection (surgical site infection) such as MRSA, through the use of antimicrobial suture packs. There were 823 cases of MRSA reported in the NHS in 2016/17 – Plus-Sutures-ITP-flyer
  • Endocuff Vision – A new type of ‘bowel scope’ that improves colorectal examination for patients undergoing bowel cancer tests. Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in England with 34,000 people diagnosed each year. For every 1,000 people screened for cancer, it is estimated that six cases could be avoided thanks to early detection through the use of this device – Endocuff-ITP-flyer
  • SecurAcath – A device to secure catheters that reduces the infection risk for patients with a peripherally inserted central catheter. The use of this equipment helps to reduce the time taken to care and treat dressing changes. This type of catheter is normally used in people needing intravenous access for several weeks or months in both inpatient and outpatient settings. NICE estimate up to 120,000 people per year could be eligible – SecurAcath-ITP-flyer

In an effort to tackle the problem of missed hospital appointments NHS England will also support DrDoctor, a digital tool to help patients’ view, change and schedule appointments, to demonstrate its potential in a real world setting.

So far, the ITP is in use in 100 NHS organisations, reaching over 74,000 patients and starting to gather valuable data on outcomes.

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