One of the most frequent questions posed by Med-Tech companies is how to achieve wider use of their products in the NHS quickly and effectively. Having the necessary evidence and business information to fully inform Trust level decision-makers and presenting it in the right way are an absolute must. The NTAC Assessment phase aims to achieve this.

Useful when you:

• May already have a small number of NHS sites using your product (usually the innovators) and you are finding it difficult to expand the usage base.
• Are planning to market your technology to the NHS for the first time.
• Are entering a new setting of care (market segment) eg. primary care

Assessment

• Assesses how well your technology meets a set of minimum requirements determined through NTAC's experience in managing technology adoption.
• Develops the full body of information necessary to go beyond the early adopters and capture the majority users.
• Enables you to understand the wider challenges of deploying your technology into the mainstream NHS and plan for their management.

Benefit: A complete Assessment will result in a Case for Adoption paper to use to engage first adopter sites ahead of a Controlled Implementation programme.

Process

Assessment is divided into two stages:

1. Client File Audit (Situation Analysis)

The Audit is usually the first step for all assignments and assesses the information already available in your organisation and within the NHS. The Audit establishes:

• The relevant needs and drivers within the NHS for the benefits of the proposed technology.
• The current patient pathways and standards of care.
• The appropriate metrics to establish a baseline performance and measure the impact of the technology on patient outcomes, service delivery and finances.
• The potential scale of impact of adopting the technology and how it will improve care quality, productivity, efficiency and costs.
• The readiness of the Company to deliver and support the product.
• Any gaps or weaknesses in the available information against the checklist of minimum requirements.

Deliverables: From the Audit, NTAC will produce an Executive Briefing Paper that assesses the completeness of the available information, verifies the level of need and scale of the potential opportunity and benefits for the technology and reports any major challenges to adoption which have been identified.

  2.     Technology Adoption Assessment: Objectives; Strategy and Evidence

Typically, the full Adoption Assessment follows on from the Audit. Adoption Assessments are typically undertaken in three steps, tailored to your particular circumstances.

Step 1: Baseline Assessment

• Analyses evidence based, clinical and operational pathways to develop a detailed baseline assessment of current care pathways and the opportunities to improve the service using your technology.
• Interprets clinical and activity measurement information to provide a baseline assessment of the performance of the current pathway and potential scale and impact of adoption of the technology. This includes developing a theoretical financial cost-benefit/ROI model.
• Identifies relevant measures (metrics) of the impact and success of the implementation and obtains data to inform the theoretical financial models

Step 2: Verification

• Models the optimum new pathway of care or service that includes the technology.
• Identifies all possible areas to remove/save cost from the current pathway.
• Interviews key opinion leaders, policy makers and potential stakeholders to verify that the proposed new pathway, use of the technology and benefits are realistic and viable at the Provider organisation level.
• Reviews published evidence of clinical efficacy and patient outcomes (through RCTs and other controlled studies), and utility (real world usage) for level of acceptance by selected early adopter sites and the wider operational clinical and management community.
• Identifies the practical challenges that may arise through adopting your technology.
• Identifies potential first adopter sites for the controlled implementation of the technology.
• Identifies any competition and alternative ways to achieve the predicted outcomes of using the technology.

Step 3: Recommendations

NTAC will also make practical recommendations to maximise the likelihood of Commissioners and Providers electing to adopt your technology. Where appropriate, NTAC will signpost you to appropriate partner organisations for additional support.

Please download and complete the Initial Assessment Questionnaire and email to info@ntac.nhs.uk. This is the first step of enabling NTAC to tailor their advice to suit your business needs. If you prefer please the contact us page and a member of the NTAC team will be happy to discuss the services that NTAC can offer your company.

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