Written by Chris Warwick, Senior Consultant Market Access
On June 11th the UK Government released a new national value-based procurement guidance document. While we already guide our clients with regards to their products holistic value proposition the release of this guidance is a clear move away from lowest-price purchasing and towards buying medical technology on the total value it offers, including outcomes, pathway efficiency, patient and staff impact, supply chain resilience, and social value. For medtech SMEs, this is critically important because it creates space in which to be responsive and develop distinct product advantages by tailoring solutions and generating data that can compete on evidence, usability, and service rather than economies of scale or discounting alone.
Key changes
The biggest change outlined in the new guidance is that value should now be assessed across five domains: social value, efficiency, patient and staff, supply chain, and purpose, alongside whole-life cost. Social value must always be included and must carry at least a 10% weighting within the tender or business case, while the combined value domains must total at least 60% and whole-life cost can be weighted up to 40%. The guidance also expects buyers to choose questions to demonstrate value from a standard set from each domain. The questions are to be published in the procurement documents, alongside additional guidance, definitions and scoring method. There is a recommended standardised response length of 750 to 1,250 words for each question.
What buyers may ask
For SMEs, the practical implication is that bids will require stronger evidence and better data to be successful. The guidance includes questions on reducing carbon and packaging, usage and disposal guidance, modern slavery risk, simplifying pathways, improving productivity, improving patient experience and outcomes, reducing harm, and reducing health inequalities. It also expects buyers and suppliers to agree baselines and measurement methods, and to use existing repositories of data and information such as registries, NICE, or Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), where relevant.
SME bid strategy
Drafting responses to tenders and preparing business cases take time and effort. Therefore SMEs should focus on preparing an evidence pack which can be reused and that maps each product to the likely procurement domains and questions. That pack should include baseline data, outcome claims, implementation support, safety evidence, and as much real-world data on pathway impact, staff time saved, or cost avoidance as can reasonably be generated to back up any claims. Benefits should also be framed in the language which buyers use, such as released capacity, reduced follow-ups, shorter procedure time, improved patient experience, or lower total cost.
Practical takeaways
This guidance should be seen as an opportunity by SMEs that are working towards, and are able to prove, measurable value across the wider healthcare system. Point solutions or services which are only competing on price or direct costs will find their route to commercialistion and market penetration much more difficult. The main opportunity is to demonstrate that your product improves care quality, reduces system costs, and is easier or safer for the NHS to use. Health Tech Enterprise is in great position to work with clients to assemble the evidence and evaluations which can demonstrate this to potential customers.
Chris is a Senior Consultant in market access at Health Tech Enterprise, specialising in helping medical technology companies navigate market entry challenges. With deep expertise in clinical insights, market research, human factors and regulatory pathways, he supports the development of effective market access strategies. Chris’s background includes developing a prototype sensor for the water industry, where he conducted research and explored methods to help overcome market entry barriers. He also brings two decades of commercial experience in customer facing roles, including ten years in a consultative account management role for a high tech IT company.
