How can medtech target the Internet generation? Kevin Payne of De Facto Communications looks at the new marketing landscape opened up by the revolution in digital communications.

Every month, half the UK population use Google to look for information on the web. Some will be thinking about buying a medical device. But are web users getting the message about your brand and products? Smart companies are adopting increasingly skilful approaches to communicating with their customers online.

Online communication is now well-established. The most technophobic medical device company now has a website featuring downloadable items such as product brochures, and has thought about making their site easier to find on Google. 75% of healthcare and life science companies are increasing their online marketing spend.

So is everything rosy in the virtual garden? Not quite. Redesigning your website to be more customer- and Google-friendly is just the start for web-savvy medical device companies. Adopting an integrated online communications strategy is critical to winning market share via the Internet.

Don’t be hard to find

Of course, it’s essential to get the basics right. You need a clearly laid out and logically structured website that doesn’t cause potential customers to break their laptop with frustration – or, more likely, to leave with a single click.

What’s more, the world’s best website is useless if no one can find it. Redeveloping a website should always be accompanied by a search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) programme to improve the ranking of the website in Google’s ‘natural’ (non-paid-for) search results, and to make it a sponsored link for searches mentioning the company’s name and main product categories.

In particular, smaller firms can steal a march on their larger competitors by appearing prominently in search results for their product category. A simple search on Google shows that larger brands, such as SonoSite Instruments, also benefit from buying up keywords associated with their company name and their main product categories, such as portable ultrasound, since prospective buyers may look for both.

Although most medical device companies are harnessing the power of search, this is still not universal. For example, a search for ‘MRI scanner’ on Google.co.uk (made on 30 July 2008) had not one MRI scanner manufacturer appearing on the first page of results. Instead, the page was dominated by scanning services, scanner resellers and downloadable patient information leaflets. Note that the first non-sponsored (natural) link on the first Google results page receives 50% of all clicks, whereas sites on the second page receive fewer than 1%. Being invisible on Google equates to lost sales.

Selling yourself online

An integrated online communications strategy is about more than a website and SEO/PPC: online PR is another key element in the mix.

Industry magazines such as On Target, Touch Cardiology and Medical Device Technology are now available both on- and offline. A cursory glance at eHealth Insider shows that some device companies, including Fujitsu and Agfa HealthCare, are sending press releases to exclusively online publications as well as printed ones. Since online publications often feature prominently in Google search results, a tailored online media relations campaign can generate an explosion of high-ranking stories, and can help with SEO link-building programs by improving website PageRanks if links to the site are embedded in the text.

Many online journals offer advertising space surrounding articles, and can contact their readers with targeted e-mail adverts. eHealth Insider, for example, hosts adverts for healthcare software. BioMed Central, an open-access online publisher of 190 peer-reviewed biomedical journals with 25 million page views per month, offers online advertising.

Online adverts allow potential customers to visit your company website with a single click. Furthermore, their success is easy to track by monitoring the number of web users who open an e-mailshot or click on an online advert. Online advert sizes have increased, offering more space for marketing messages. Furthermore, as increasing numbers of readers flock to the web, online advertising is taking market share from print media, causing the number of print publications to decline.

Joining the conversation

Web 2.0 is all about interaction. Although listening to and engaging with customers via ‘blogs’, social media sites and forums is old news to online consumer PR professionals, it remains underused by medical device companies. That is a shame, because these media can save carrying out a survey or assembling a focus group. For example, a quick tour of the professional networking site LinkedIn reveals 472 healthcare-related groups, including one for “people working [with] Healthcare-IT, Electronic Health Record (EHR) and Hospital Info System[s] (HIS)”.

The most popular blogs (short for ‘weblogs’) can get as many visits as mainstream journals, so their influence should not be underestimated. Technorati or Google’s Blog Search is a quick way to find out whether anyone is linking to a blog that discusses a brand or product category. An example is Dalai’s ‘PACS Blog’, written by an American radiologist, which has a Technorati ‘authority’ (the number of links to the blog in a given period) of 14.

Companies can read blogs to understand the market better, start their own corporate blog and interact with influential bloggers, or encourage key opinion leaders to start a blog or to offer a contribution to an existing blog as a ‘guest blogger’. The medical device blogosphere is currently an underoccupied space, ripe for colonisation by innovative corporate bloggers.

Drawing in the customer

A good way to encourage bloggers to talk about your product is to make it easy and interesting for them to do so.

“Many medtech companies have not yet adopted an integrated online communications strategy. Those who do achieve an immediate competitive advantage. A small company, for example, can make itself the definitive source of information about its product category.” Kevin Payne is a founder director of De Facto Communications. He has spent the last 26 years helping medical device manufacturers introduce new technologies, harness key opinion leader endorsement and build their market shares. In recent years, De Facto has broadened its PRled marketing communications services to include all aspects of e-marketing, from website design right through to search engine optimisation and Google AdWord management. For more information, e-mail k.payne@defacto.com or visit www.defacto.com.

Likewise, if you bring potential customers to your website via Google, you want to keep them there for as long as possible and ensure that they return.

Some medical device companies have been offering multimedia educational resources on their websites for a while now. For example, the Ansell Europe website hosts videos, online lectures and leaflets about latex allergies, infection control and surgical glove use. This is a growth area for medical device companies, since links to high-quality educational materials can be shared by potential customers. The materials can be diverse, including interviews with key opinion leaders, video case studies and interactive ‘Ask an Expert’ sessions.

Furthermore, periodically adding new resources such as webinars keeps people coming back to the site. BioMed Central recently held an eMarketing seminar (‘Online and On-message: Going Digital eMarketing Webinar for Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Sectors’) and made the highlights available on its website as a high-quality webcast using software and production facilities offered by In Situ Productions.

Multimedia materials don’t have to be hosted on the company’s website. Videos that are easy to embed in other sites can be uploaded onto YouTube, used by bloggers or issued as part of a multimedia news release (MNR). This new type of press release has space, usually in the right-hand column, for links to graphs, videos, testimonials or other materials that can be viewed and used by a journalist, blogger or potential customer. MNRs can also be incorporated into a website’s RSS news feed, bookmarked on del.icio.us or flagged up on social news communities such as Digg.

All these things make it easier for bloggers, forum users or other people to use and pass on a company’s educational resources without the company needing to do any further work. They are already popular with consumer and technology PR companies – but many medical device companies still depend on traditional methods to get customers talking about their products.

Spinning the Web

The medtech industry has got the basics of e-marketing right: providing an effective website and thinking about SEO and PPC. However, many companies have not yet adopted an integrated online communications strategy. Those who do achieve an immediate competitive advantage. A small company, for example, can make itself the definitive source of information about its product category. With many companies now approaching agencies to help them develop a powerful web strategy, it is clear that medtech companies need to make online communications the cutting edge of their marketing plans.

 

 

Kirkham Young, one of the very few recruitment consultancies to focus exclusively on the medical devices and scientific sectors, is four years old this month. As sales, marketing and engineering roles in this sector become more specialised and difficult, Kirkham Young is growing and adapting to help people find the best roles for their talents.

In the last twelve months, roles in healthcare sales and marketing have changed because the market is changing. Selling medical technologies has become a much more business-focused process. As NHS Trusts move towards structured purchasing and procurement, sales professionals need to be able to sell at all levels, from clinical to procurement level. New sales roles, such as commercial managers and contract managers, are being developed to meet that need. While this transformation opens up many new opportunities for the healthcare industry, it also requires a major change in the sales model. The NHS is driven as a business now – and it’s using its buying power for the first time. Faced with such a fast-moving environment, how do you develop your career to stay ahead of the game? One answer is to enlist the support of a specialist recruitment company that knows the healthcare industry inside out.

One step ahead

Medical device sales recruitment specialist Kirkham Young this month celebrates its fourth birthday. In the past twelve months the company has evolved to meet the challenges of a changing job market. It has expanded its team with two additional members of staff – and, significantly, has introduced a new role: that of Candidate Manager.

““It’s a candidate-driven market,” says Sam Kirkham, Director and co-Founder of Kirkham Young. “Our candidates are as important as our clients: without them we haven’t got a business. So it’s really important to have someone who will look after them throughout the recruitment process and provide a central point of reference – and this means we can react faster to turn things around.” Kirkham Young has also appointed a new consultant to its medical team, and is looking to expand both the scientific and medical teams for 2009. The consultancy’s new website, launched this month, will help to support its growth as a specialist recruiter.

In the last year, Kirkham Young has obtained a number of additional key preferred supplier agreements with major blue-chip companies. It has also increased its reputation for niche market set-ups, and is getting more and more business from start-up companies. As its reputation spreads, it is filling a lot more vacancies at director level: 20% of its new vacancies are senior appointments, a massive increase on previous years.

“This is obviously due to our contacts and the people we’ve worked with – especially on the marketing side, which has been a real boom industry this year,” says Tina Young, fellow Director and co-Founder. “Increasingly, our clients are realising that they don’t need to go to executive head-hunters to find these people, because the candidates they’re after are people we work with day in and day out. So whilst we would never poach from one of our customers, we know exactly where to go and who to speak to when we want to find senior individuals. “Medical devices is a complex niche market, and it’s all we do: we don’t dabble in pharma or anything else. So it’s more straightforward for us to find high-calibre executives because we already have strong relationships in place – many spanning a decade or more - and a really good understanding of the business as well.”

Staying the distance

Kirkham Young’s approach differs from that of other recruitment companies in the healthcare sector. Specialising in niche market areas – medical devices (both hospital and community) and scientific equipment only – all of its consultants are fully qualified and individual members of the industry’s governing body, the REC. It is also an REC corporate member and holds the prestigious ISO quality accreditation.

This specialist knowledge and expertise is put to good use, as Sam explains: “To offer integrity – the ability to tell clients and candidates what’s really going on, to tell the listener more than just what they want to hear – it’s important to be a true consultancy. You need to be able to say to the client, this package isn’t going to get you the person you want – or say to the candidate, actually you’re better off staying where you are.

“It would be easy for us to put bums on seats and always make the fee and treat candidates as a commodity – but actually they’re not. They’re people with lives and mortgages and families. So it’s very important to have that honesty, because longer-term they’ll remember that integrity and come back to you. A lot of agencies will just think ‘We can put this candidate into xyz company and make a quick fee’, but that may not be the best thing for the candidate and therefore ultimately for the client – so while you’ll make the fee today, it won’t give you a long-term business strategy and a good reputation.”

Kirkham Young rarely negotiates its fees. “We work very hard to find our candidates and to look after them and our clients, and that costs a great deal of money,” Tina points out. “If you start dropping your fees, some part of your service has to go and we are not willing to compromise on that front! Instead we aim to give excellent value for money, working with first-class customers we know very well, have good relationships and high success rates with, rather than spread ourselves thin and have a scattergun approach.”

Kirkham Young recently asked its candidates and clients for feedback on its service. They were asked to rate the quality of its service as excellent, fair or poor, and to say if there was anything they could have done better. All 200 returned cards rated the consultancy as excellent, with the only comments being praise and thanks.

The human touch

In summary, there are several key reasons why people looking for vacancies in the healthcare sector should look to Kirkham Young for solutions.

Firstly, it means they will deal with a highly motivated team. “As employers,” Sam notes, “we work very hard to look after our team and make them all feel valued, with good knowledge and good experience, and to reward them for their efforts.”

Secondly, when a candidate talks to Kirkham Young, they will always speak to someone who understands their market and is motivated to help them for the right reasons. Thirdly, the consultancy has a very good selection of vacancies – from graduate trainee right the way through to MD level – with many different companies.

And finally, Kirkham Young has the expertise and insight to tailor its approach for individual candidates and clients. “Each person is unique: everybody’s looking for different things and is motivated by different reasons, and we’ll make sure that we tailor our approach to match that and give them whatever help and support they need,” says Tina. “That might mean offering feedback on a presentation, giving interview training to a candidate who has previously only worked in the NHS, or providing a candidate for a Managing Director role with support and extra information about a company.”

The medical technologies industry and its market are changing fast. To help you find the best role for your skills and career expectations, you need a recruitment consultancy service that combines expert industry awareness with the human touch. Kirkham Young can provide just that combination!

To find your perfect job, call Kirkham Young on 0870 787 3134 or visit the website: www.kirkhamyoung.co.uk.

 

 

Siemens invests in sales force SIEMENS HEALTHCARE has appointed two new Regional Sales Managers to its Ultrasound and Women’s Health team, and a Product Manager to its Imaging and Oncology division. Annie Makin has joined as London Regional Sales Manager for Ultrasound and Women’s Health. She will be responsible for driving and supporting the sales process for solutions including the newly-launched Acuson S2000 ultrasound platform and Mammomat Inspiration fullfield digital mammography system. Her previous roles include Cardiac Rhythm Management, where she looked after pacemaker sales and provided technical support, as well as roles in sales and business analysis. Luan Dinh has been appointed as London and East Anglia Regional Sales Manager for Performance Products, a growing area within Siemens Healthcare. He will concentrate on the compact and mobile ultrasound range of systems that includes the Acuson X300, P50 and P10. Luan has an engineering background, and has previously worked at Ionics Ltd and Labcaire Systems Ltd. Lynn Blackburn has been appointed as Product Manager for Special Products in the Imaging and Oncology Division, where she will manage imaging products and peripherals such as the Arcadis Avantic and Arcadis Varic mobile interventional C-arms. Her role will include looking after budgets, quotations and customer enquiries, plus assisting with product demonstration and training of clinical applications. Lynn joined Siemens from medical device company Synthes, where she worked as a sales representative for trauma products. She is qualified as a radiographer and in clinical applications for ultrasound. Pennine Healthcare wins Investors in People status PENNINE HEALTHCARE, a privately-owned manufacturer of single-use medical devices and custom procedure packs, has been awarded Investors in People status at its first attempt. The accreditation recognises the company’s investment in the development of its employees. Elizabeth Fothergill, Pennine’s Managing Director, said: “To meet the standard so comprehensively is a real achievement. The Investor in People accreditation endorses our core principles of fostering individual growth and encouraging the career and professional development of all colleagues.” The award was made in recognition of the company’s enhanced people management, career development and training. The assessor’s report concluded that the company has remained committed to employee development and to ensuring good communication within the business. The Investors in People Standard encourages organisations to improve performance and realise objectives through the management and development of their people. There are currently over 30,000 recognised businesses in the UK employing over 27% of the UK workforce. Pennine Healthcare manufactures over 50 million sterile products every year, including custom procedure packs and single-use medical devices that are distributed throughout the UK and in over 70 countries worldwide. UK Medical is built to last SINGLE-USE MEDICAL PRODUCT SPECIALIST UK Medical unveiled its new corporate brand and celebrated its growth at an event on 25 June at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. In the last two years, UK Medical has rationalised its product portfolio to focus on shortening healthcare procedure times and reducing the length and frequency of hospital stays. The business itself has become more focused, and has invested in people and systems. Managing Director Ian Aaron commented: “Our exciting rebrand has come about further to consultation with staff, industry partners and NHS and private medical sector clients. We believe the outcome is a vibrant indication of UK Medical’s focus, professionalism and commitment to detail.” UK Medical supplies medical products and instruments to leading medical device companies such as Cardinal Health, Bioteq, Cooper Surgical and Ella. The company specialises in high-quality interventional and implantable single-use products, covering biopsy, cath lab, drainage, obs & gynae, stenting, surgery and vertebroplasty. It has been awarded Investors in People and ISO 9000 status. UK Medical worked with Leeds-based design consultancy The Engine Room on the design and rollout of its new brand. Coloplast sets standards in customer care WOUND CARE SPECIALIST COLOPLAST LTD is helping its customer care staff to work towards a national customer service qualification, and is funding a charity for people affected by a rare skin disease. Eight Coloplast employees are currently producing work to put forward for the Institute of Customer Services (ICS) Professional Communications Award. All staff will be given the opportunity to participate. Achievement of the professionally-recognised ICS award demonstrates that staff can deliver excellent customer service consistently, build relationships with customers, resolve customer problems, understand the company’s products and see how their role fits in with the company’s wider aims. Customer care specialist Emma Branch noted: “Coloplast is supporting everyone studying for the ICS award in a number of ways. For example, each person is allocated a coach who is there to help them track progress and give guidance as necessary.” Peterborough-based Coloplast Ltd is a leading UK supplier of wound, continence and stoma care products. Coloplast staff saw some benefits of their work fi rst-hand at the 2008 DebRA annual conference and AGM, which it funded. DebRA is the national charity for individuals and families affected by Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), a serious skin condition. Coloplast has developed wound dressings that are of great benefit to EB sufferers. Lucy Meddings, Territory Manager at Coloplast’s Wound and Skin Care Division, said: “I spoke to many EB sufferers that day and it was fantastic to hear first-hand how a Coloplast product had improved their quality of life. It was great to hear so many moving stories and learn about the illness in more depth.” Coloplast’s sponsorship is also enabling DebRA to hold activity weekends for people affected by the condition. New Account Manager at G2 HEALTHCARE SALES AND MARKETING RESOURCING ORGANISATION G2 Sales Recruitment has appointed Sam Pilkington as a new Account Manager based in the Guildford office. This appointment reflects G2’s continued development and commitment to its clients. “Sam will be responsible for liaising with existing clients to develop a stronger relationship and understanding of their specific business needs, and also targeting healthcare companies who have not yet benefited from our services,” said Nick McCoy of G2. “Sam’s background in the finance sector means that he has experience of dealing with people at a professional level and understands the need to deliver in an ethical fashion.” “I am really looking forward to working in this exciting sector of recruitment and feel that the support and infrastructure given to me by the company provides an excellent platform for me to be successful,” commented Sam. To speak to Sam about your sales and marketing requirements, please call 01483 443800. ZooBiotic appoints new General Manager BIOSURGICAL COMPANY ZOOBIOTIC, supplier of innovative wound care products, has appointed a new General Manager. Gill Davies joined the company last year as Sales and Marketing Manager. She had spent the previous seven years with Johnson & Johnson, where she specialised in wound management in their Advanced Wound Care division. Bridgend-based ZooBiotic, one of the UK’s first NHS spinout businesses, is a fully commercial operation with rapidly growing markets in larval therapy. The company’s products are now in routine use for the rapid debridement of infected, sloughy and necrotic wounds. The company has achieved ISO certification, a key factor in implementing its strategy to replicate the business internationally. Maggot therapy has been used successfully in the treatment of leg ulcers, pressure ulcers and other types of infected wound. Evidence suggests that it may be successful in combating MRSA. “Thousands of people have been treated with maggot therapy, and the demand is growing all the time as people realise how effective it is,” commented Ms Davies. “ZooBiotic’s mission is to contribute towards fighting infection and treating chronic disease, while also achieving commercial returns through the exploitation of intellectual property-derived devices and animal-based biochemicals.” New Nurse Specialists at Gambro RENAL DIALYSIS COMPANY GAMBRO has expanded its Nurse Specialist Team with two new staff members who are experienced in renal care. Katharine Bolton has been appointed as Nurse Specialist for the North-East Territory. Working from her Leeds home, she will report to the Team Leader, Sally Oldroyd. Katharine Bolton has extensive renal unit experience, covering both in-centre and in-patient renal care. She qualified as a ward nurse in 2006, and worked on the renal unit at St James Teaching Hospital in Leeds – where she was also a key member of the access monitoring programme, in which she taught and supported other members of staff in transonic monitoring. Commenting on her appointment at Gambro, Katharine said: “I wanted to combine my renal experience, nursing skills and teaching abilities in any career development move, and this opportunity provides scope for all three! I am therefore delighted to be bringing my enthusiasm to what I know is a very knowledgeable and professional team.” Gambro has also appointed Samantha Collins as PD Nurse Specialist (South) in the Homecare Team managed by the Sales and Marketing Manager, Rob Fisher. She will work from her Reading home. Samantha Collins qualified as a registered nurse from Derriford Hospital, Plymouth in 1991. She spent nine years in renal care within the NHS hospital service, providing chronic dialysis at The Middlesex Hospital and acute dialysis at St Mary’s Hospital, London. Following a two-year spell as a Practice Nurse she became a Nurse Advisor with Innovex, where she specialised in respiratory and cardiac disciplines for six years before transferring to Ashfield In 2 Focus as a Nurse Advisor (COPD). Samantha joined Gambro in June 2008. She said: “The opportunity with Gambro ticked all my boxes. I felt my precious skills and work experience could be brought together to bear on this new exciting development within the company. I had become very familiar during my NHS work in the 1990s with the Gambro dialysis products, and knew the company to be well respected and a leading light in renal disease research.” Kirkham Young walk it like they talk it WITH MANY COMPANIES STRUGGLING to hang onto talented staff, the Directors of healthcare recruitment specialist Kirkham Young have practiced what they preach and rewarded their team for exceptional performance in the first half of 2008. On a fun day out, the entire Kirkham Young team enjoyed a range of activities including apache rally driving, 4x4 driving and geese herding! “Rewarding staff for achievement in addition to their salary and bonus is so often forgotten by companies both large and small,” commented Director Sam Kirkham. “It is easy to overlook the small details that really matter, and a day out like ours has enabled us to let our team know how much we appreciate all their hard work.” “We had a great day out and most importantly had really good fun – it’s fantastic to be able to enjoy a day out together, away from office and celebrate our success!” commented newly-promoted Paul Cornell. As part of its bespoke recruitment solution offering, Kirkham Young offers expert guidance on a number of issues, from salary benchmarking to more ‘soft’ advice on staff retention and motivation. For more information, contact Sam Kirkham on 0870 787 3134. Misonix appoints Senior Managing Director for Labcaire MEDICAL DEVICE COMPANY MISONIX, Inc. has appointed Neil Blewitt as Senior Managing Director of the company’s Labcaire subsidiary in the UK. Graham Kear, Labcaire’s present Managing Director, will take on the new role of Managing Director and CFO. Neil Blewitt comes to Misonix with over 20 years’ business unit and general manager experience with international manufacturing companies. Michael A. McManus, Jr., President and CEO of Misonix, said: “We welcome Neil to Misonix and expect his professional, proven leadership to create and lead a dynamic group that will continue to grow our Labcaire business.” Labcaire is a wholly-owned UK subsidiary located in Clevedon, and services the endoscope disinfection and ductless fume enclosure equipment markets. Misonix, Inc. develops, manufactures and markets therapeutic ultrasonic medical devices, used in Europe for the ablation of cancer and worldwide for other acute health conditions.

 

In March, On Target reported on the i-House demonstrator: a model house used to showcase technologies for home-based healthcare at exhibitions. Now the i-House is a real house with a West Midlands address. On Target looks at a marketing breakthrough that is changing the landscape of healthcare technology.

How better to market technologies for home healthcare than in the home? The i-House in West Bromwich is designed to showcase new technologies for assisted living. With an eye to the ageing population and the shift of healthcare into the community, it presents sustainable and user-friendly innovations that combine the agendas of healthcare, security and sustainable housing for vulnerable members of society.

Not a showroom for products but a demonstrator that integrates a range of technologies from different sources, the i-House brings together ambitious ideas in a real context that can be assessed by user groups and customers in health and social care. In building a new paradigm for the home-based healthcare of the future, the i-House also demonstrates a potent new approach to healthcare marketing.

Safe as houses

Access to the i-House is via a keyless powered gate and door with a fingerprint reader and automatic lock. Lighting in the back-yard paving comes on after dark. The gate and door can be viewed on the TV inside, and the entry system defaults to an external service after 9pm. A voice welcome message on entry can be tailored with prompts. The door and gate can be opened by pressing a button inside the house.

The house knows who is inside at any given time. The integrated i-Cue system (from TECHNIK2 and Halliday James) controls lighting, monitors occupancy, operates an alarm and responds to emergencies signalled by smoke, CO and flood detectors. Other peripheral sensors or control devices can be integrated. The system responds to danger signals with voice prompts, then automatic calls to a neighbour or call centre.

An SMS text message receiver on the windowsill in the living-room can be used to switch appliances on and off. It can also monitor temperature changes and send a prompt to a carer or change the heating level automatically. Sensors in the windows can respond to air movement by turning down the heating. A small bedside unit integrates a radio, a heat sensor, control of the phone, and other sensor or control units; the clockface design allows buttons to be configured, and the unit can provide audible cues.

The aim of these systems is to help vulnerable people maintain their independence and privacy through accessible technology. There was previously no model for bringing these solutions together in one home.

A helping hand

The fixtures and fittings of the i-House are designed to support users of all abilities, including those with physical disabilities or dementia. Solutions of this kind can help people to stay at home for years when, previously, they would have needed to enter residential care. It also reduces the need for exensive alterations when the house is let or sold to a new occupant.

In the kitchen, an appliance monitor requires the occupant to log in with a fingerprint before using certain cooking appliances. A small tablet PC runs a memory prompt for kitchen tasks, e.g. “Take your ready meal out of the microwave. Pierce film lid three times.” The microwave uses special product bar codes to set the cooking levels and times. The sink has touch-control taps preset to an adjustable filling level.

The bathroom has a level-access shower with a pre-set temperature and one-touch controls. The toilet has a hands-free flush (from EcoLogic). There are handrails and ‘panic’ buttons. A heat exchanger uses heat from the bathroom to warm the house via a water heating pump – one of several energy-saving features of the i-House.

The lights can be manually switched (with radio switches) or remotely controlled via light sensors. The stairlift (from Minivator) is able to negotiate the curved staircase of the original house. An impressive feature is the compact throughfloor lift that connects the front room to the bedroom upstairs, but leaves the floor space free when not in use. The bed and its overhead grab pole (from Nexus DMS) can be adjusted electronically.

Two telehealth systems are displayed in the front room. A mobile phone-based vital signs monitoring system from Safe Surgery Systems sends data to the GP, using algorithms to identify abnormal readings and notify the GP of problems automatically. A desk-based monitoring system from TeleMedCare uses a PC and interface, allowing a range of peripheral devices to be integrated according to the needs of a family.

Where the health is

The i-House is a development of Medilink West Midlands’ i-Health initiative, which promotes the use of partnership, best practice and modern technology to support independent living.

The house was designed and fitted by MedilinkWM with funding from Advantage West Midlands, working with local medtech companies and Black Country Housing. The needs of the property were analysed by Erganova. In 2006, MedlinkWM worked with Urban Living to develop a design standard for sustainable inclusive living: the i-House is a direct application. The project was pulled together in 12 months.

The main goal of the i-House is to raise the profile of assistive technologies in healthcare and housing, and to showcase the capability of groups of medtech companies in the West Midlands. Recent visitors include national housing providers, MPs and MEPs, including two Under- Secretaries of State. The project is related to Government objectives on innovation, and has received a grant from the Technology Strategy Board.

As a marketing initiative, the i-House not only promotes medical technologies by demonstrating their feasibility and value in a realistic context, it also serves as a model of partnership and market-making strategies in the context of an evolving health and social care system. It brings medical technology home.

Rob Chesters, i-Health Network Manager for MedilinkWM, comments on this groundbreaking project: “The i-House has proved to be an excellent facility to showcase medical technology in the West Midlands in terms of assistive technologies and telemedicine. It’s drawing medtech companies, health providers and housing companies together to tackle the issues of assisted living.”

 

 1948 -NHS established
The NHS is born on July 5 1948 out of a long-held ideal that good healthcare should be available to all, regardless of wealth. Health secretary Aneurin Bevan opens Park Hospital in Manchester. For the first time hospitals, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, opticians and dentists are brought together under one umbrella organisation that is free for all at the point of delivery.

1952 - Prescription charges introduced
Charges of one shilling (5p) are introduced for prescriptions. Prescription charges are abolished in 1965, and prescriptions remain free until June 1968 when the charges are reintroduced.

1958 - Polio and diphtheria vaccinations
A programme to vaccinate everyone under the age of 15 against polio and diphtheria is launched. One of the primary aims of the NHS is to promote good health, not simply to treat illness, and the introduction of the polio and diphtheria vaccine is a key part of the NHS’s plans.

1961 - The Pill made available
The contraceptive pill is made widely available and is hailed as a breakthrough of the 20th Century. Between 1962 and 1969, the number of women taking the Pill rise dramatically, from approximately 50,000 to 1m.

1962 - The Hospital Plan
The medical profession criticises the separation of the NHS into three parts – hospitals, general practice and local health authorities – and calls for unification. Enoch Powell’s Hospital Plan approves the development of district general hospitals for population areas of about 125,000. It soon becomes clear that it has underestimated the cost and time taken to build new hospitals.

1967 - The Salmon Report
This major report makes recommendations for the development of senior nursing staff. The Cogwheel Report considers the organisation of doctors in hospitals and proposes speciality groupings. It also highlights the efforts being made to reduce the disadvantages of the three-part NHS structure – hospitals, general practice and local health authorities – acknowledging the complexity of the NHS and the importance of change to meet future needs.

1972 - CT scans introduced
Computer tomography scans start to revolutionise the way doctors examine the body.

1980s - MRI scans introduced
Using a combination of magnetism and radio frequency waves, MRI scanners provide information about the body.

1980 - Keyhole surgery
A surgeon uses a telescopic rod with fi bre optic cable to remove a gallbladder.

1980 - Black Report
The report investigates the inequality of healthcare that still exists despite the foundation of the NHS, concluding that poor people are still more likely to die earlier than rich ones. The Whitehead Report in 1987 and the Acheson report in 1998 reached the same conclusions.

1986 - Aids health campaign
The government launches the biggest public health campaign in history to educate people about the threat of Aids as a result of HIV: “Don’t die of ignorance”.

1988 - Breast screening is introduced
Comprehensive national breast-screening programme introduced.

1990 - NHS and Community Care Act
Internal market is introduced, which means health authorities manage their own budgets and buy healthcare from hospitals and other health organisations.

1991 - First NHS Trusts established
Fifty-seven NHS trusts are established to make the service more responsive to the user at a local level. New NHS Trusts will aim to encourage creativity and innovation and challenge the domination of the hospitals within a health service that is increasingly focused on services in the community.

1998 - NHS Direct launches
A nurse-led advice service provides people with 24-hour health advice over the phone.

2000 - NHS walk-in centres
New health facilities open offering convenient access, round-the-clock, 365 days a year.

2002 - Primary care trusts launched
Primary care trusts are set up to improve the administration and delivery of healthcare at a local level.

2004 - Patient Choice Pilots
All patients waiting longer than six months for an operation are given a choice of an alternative place of treatment. Everyone who is referred by their doctor for hospital treatment is given a choice of at least four hospitals. Nowadays you can choose where and when to have your treatment from a list including local hospitals, NHS foundation trust hospitals across the country and a growing number of independent sector treatment centres and hospitals that have been contracted from the private sector.

2008 - Darzi Report
NHS Next Stage Review Final report promises a ‘once-in-ageneration opportunity’ to make the NHS one of the world’s nest healthcare systems.

KEY FACTS • The NHS employs over 1.3 million people nationwide. • It is the 4th largest employer in the world behind the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, Wal-Mart and the Indian Railways. • Around 77% of the NHS workforce is female • Nurses make up the largest part of the NHS workforce at around 30% • 23m people visit their GP or practice nurse each month • GPs treat an average 255 patients each week • Community pharmacies dispensed 745 million prescription items in 2006/07. • Staff across the NHS are in contact with more than 1.5 million patients and their families every day. • In a typical week, 1.4 million people will receive help in their home from the NHS.

 

 

Innovation wins as industry welcomes Darzi review

Lord Darzi’s review of the NHS promises improved patient access to innovative technologies. Industry trade organisations ABHI, AdvaMed and BIVDA see great potential in its proposals.

Lord Darzi’s NHS Next Stage Review has received the early backing of some of the leading trade organisations from across the UK medtech industry.

The review, which was published in July to coincide with the NHS’s 60th birthday celebrations, promises to shift health service emphasis from increasing the quantity of care to improving its clinical quality. Significantly, Darzi’s plans also promise to improve patient access to innovative medicines and technologies and states that innovation will be central to the NHS – a commitment that has been welcomed by the medtech industry.

“In his review Darzi returns to the problem of uptake of new technologies by the NHS, identified by Wanless in 2001,” said Andy Taylor, Policy Director, Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI). “In the intervening years improvement has been slow, so this renewed focus on access is very welcome. Patients in the UK are often amongst the last to benefit from even UK-produced innovations and this clearly needs to be addressed. Patients must be empowered to demand the highest standards of service and quality, with all NICE approved treatments and technologies made available to all patients irrespective of postcode.”

The NHS Next Stage Review recommends the formation of ‘Health Innovation and Education Clusters” composed of all parts of the NHS, academics and industry, and new funding for innovation to be held by Strategic Health Authorities (SHA) and awarded in competitions. “Darzi also addresses the problems of access to innovative technologies, and proposes solutions through streamlined technology appraisals, compulsory availability of approved treatments, and a statutory duty to promote innovation for SHAs,” said Andy Taylor.

The Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) has also hailed the Review and believes its recommendations will have positive implications for the medical device industry. “We appreciate the commitment to innovation and patient access reflected in the report’s recommendations, and as we move forward we will continue to work with our UK partners to find ways to address these important issues,” said Stephen Ubl, President at AdvaMed. “We are pleased it makes specific suggestions and highlights mechanisms to recognise and reward innovative technology within the UK healthcare system and address patient needs. This is important in terms of both patient care and future innovation in medical devices.”

The notion of patient choice, which lies at the heart of the Review, has also earned plaudits. One of its flagship initiatives – a draft NHS Constitution – aims to provide a framework to deliver patient choice. Proposals for the Constitution, which aims to give patients a new legal right to choose between treatment options available to them, have been applauded by the British In Vitro Diagnostics Association (BIVDA).

“Diagnostics have a vital role in ensuring that patients are more in control of their health, and the Constitution and introduction of individual care plans will increase patients’ understanding of the services and care they can expect,” said Doris-Ann Williams, Director General of BIVDA. “Diagnostic testing has a significant role to play in preventing ill health, so we welcome the Government’s focus in the Review on helping people to stay healthy and to improve access to health checks and point of care testing in more convenient locations. The introduction of increased measures to support patients with long-term conditions will also be beneficial.

“We welcome the introduction of locally-commissioned wellbeing and prevention services, so that the specific health needs of communities can be addressed. Together with access to diagnostics in a broader range of settings, such as pharmacy and workplaces, there will be greater opportunities to test for a range of preventable health conditions, and so reduce ill health and costs to the NHS.”

For full analysis and interpretation of the NHS Next Stage Review, check out On Target’s coverage on pages 10–13.