A ‘repeat description’ of what ails the NHS

The Medical Technology Group (MTG), a coalition of patient groups, research charities and medical device manufacturers, has published its latest report Déjà Review: what lessons can be learnt from the past? Barbara Harpham, chair of the Medical Technology Group, provides an insight into the key issues raised.

Déjà Review is an assessment of the work of NHS England’s committees, initiatives and reports over the past ten years that were convened and published in order to improve NHS efficiency and, therefore – presumably – patient outcomes. The primary focus for efficient patient treatment was, and remains, the NHS’s approach to adopting innovative technologies.

There were at least 17 such initiatives directly instigated by the NHS over the period – including the ambitious but achievable NHS Next Stage Review from health minister Lord Darzi in 2008 and NHS Chief Executive David Nicholson’s Innovation, Health and Wealth (IHW) in 2011. There were even a number of additional helpful reports from outside the NHS, including two by Sir Derek Wanless for the King’s Fund and LSE in 2006 and 2007, rooted in his even earlier reports from 2002 and 2004 for the Treasury.