The Specialised Services Devices Programme (SSDP), formerly known as the High-Cost Tariff-Excluded Devices programme, works to lower the price of high-cost devices and create system-level savings to the NHS. After identifying health inequalities for some patient groups as a result of their cost-reduction projects, the team worked to address the imbalance. Equality and Health Impact Assessments (EHIAs) into their projects at an early stage enabled the impacts on patients and any inequalities encountered to be minimised.
Objective
The Specialised Services Devices Programme (SSDP) identified that health inequalities were present in their procurement process which aimed to reduce the costs of some medical devices. Creating system-level savings across the NHS was the driving force for the project but minimising inequalities needed to be part of the process.
What we did
Hannah Elliott, Project Manager at SCW, took the lead to support the SSDP team to undertake EHIAs as part of its device innovation projects. These assessments, delivered at an early stage of the process, ensured that projects could only progress after considering their impact on health inequalities and recommending steps to minimise any negative effects.
Inclusion of health inequality in specialised services devices had not been done before and delivering EHIAs for medical devices was a novel approach. Findings were presented to the NHS England SSDP Programme Board.
Activity
Health improvement and inequalities
System transformation
Finance analytics and financial governance
Outcome
As a result of embedding EHIAs into device innovation projects our team were able to advise the customer on who uses the devices and the potential impacts on population groups. Evidence on health inequalities is, for the first time, informing strategy and governance for NHS England projects related to medical devices, setting a precedent for future work. These EHIAs are supporting NHS England staff to become increasingly sensitive to health inequalities and understand how efforts at every level of work within the NHS contribute to widening (or reducing) gaps.
