Member News
By John Glen MP - 12th October 2011
John Glen MP says government must realise the "great untapped potential" that lies within the NHS and its key assets.
In the light of recent discussions on NHS reform, and meetings with NHS Innovation South West in my constituency, I decided to call for a debate in Westminster Hall on how the NHS could benefit from realising the commercial potential of many of the ideas and innovations developed by its employees.
It is not often realised that many innovative and valuable devices, techniques,and treatments are developed "in-house" by the NHS. In my constituency, I have come across a number of examples of this. Odstock Medical Limited, which has grown out of Salisbury's NHS Foundation Trust has pioneered a technique (Functional Electrical Stimulation) to produce contractions in paralysed muscles that can assist walking. Just last week I heard that another consultant at the local hospital in Salisbury has solved a problem with a chest drain which is now undergoing development.
At a time when the costs of healthcare are rising, with many more treatments available, drug prices increasing in real terms, and with an ageing population, the NHS cannot afford to ignore the commercial potential of its key assets: the expertise of its employees and their ideas. A number of the treatments and techniques being developed could lower healthcare costs. For example given the high survival rates when oesophageal cancer is diagnosed early, an oesophageal cancer diagnostic endoscope developed in the South West could offer huge savings for the NHS in both ongoing treatment and 'end of life' care costs.
At the moment, the current NHS process for capitalising on innovation is not quick enough, there is no access to NHS funding. And there are insufficient incentives and mechanisms to encourage Trusts to invest in such promising cost-saving technologies. As a consequence, many opportunities are being missed. If we ignore the commercial potential within the NHS, it will be exploited by private sector funders and entrepreneurs who can often move more rapidly. With the intellectual property that is not patented to NHS Trusts but to the private sector who will, in due course, be able to charge the NHS for their products and services at rates that the NHS would rather not have to pay.
We know from where hospitals exploit ideas elsewhere in the world that significant streams of royalties can accrue from successful investment – royalties that will be a reliable and recurring contribution to the efficiency savings that the NHS needs to make. After an initial investment, these royalties could even allow innovation funding to be self-financing.
We must realise the great untapped potential that lies within the NHS. I call on the government to ensure that the ongoing Carruthers review puts in place the practical measures and access to funding so that the NHS can fully exploit the commercial potential of ideas developed within it. It will be these ideas that will drive cost savings that can contribute to securing a world-class health service.
John Glen has been Conservative MP for Salisbury since 2010.
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