Medical Technology Group

The Medical Technology Group (MTG) is a trade organization, working for different companies, patient groups, charities and other trade associations in the pharmaceutical industry. It was launched in 2000 to make medical technologies available to everyone who needs them. MTG works towards 'achieving a cutting edge NHS where patients are guaranteed access to effective medical technologies'. MTG is 'the only UK coalition of industry groups and patient charities working together to improve patient access to effective medical technologies'.

The Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) owns MTG. It writes on its homepage that, 'the Medical Technology Group represents drug and device manufacturers and trade associations on all aspects of federal and state regulation of medical technology, including the requirements of the Food and Drug Administration, Health Care Financing Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Federal Trade Commission, and State Medicaid Agencies'.

Economy

Many, including MTG, believe the uptake of medical technologies is not as good as it should be in the UK. The UK medical technology sector in 2010 consists of 3034 companies generating a turnover of £13.1bn and employing 55, 000 individuals. Barbara Harpham, Medical Technology Group chairman and director of Heart Research UK claims that, the UK lags behind many other European countries, with problems like hospitals denying patients NICE-approved technologies because they lack the facilities or staff to support their use.

Norman Lamb MP, the Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, agrees there should be more focus on medical technology. He says that, “adoption of medical technologies is often both cost effective and in the patient’s interest. Up until now, the NHS has been slow to recognise the value of technology. This has to change if we are to maximise the effective use of resources for the benefit of patients”.

“The global medical technology market is estimated to be worth £150-170bn and the proportion of healthcare expenditure spent on medical technology is increasing. The USA is the largest market worth over £70bn and has a strong supply base with the majority of world’s largest medical technology companies originating in the country”. “The UK spends just 4.5% of its healthcare budget on technology, compared with a European average of 6.3%. This leads to British patients missing out, for example life saving pacemakers are implanted in Germany at twice the UK rate”.

Medical Technology

AdvaMed claims that medical technology is used to diagnose, monitor or treat every disease or condition that affects humans. They write that these innovative technologies are improving the quality of health care delivered and patient outcomes through earlier diagnosis, less invasive treatment options and reductions in hospital stays and rehabilitation times. Barbara Harpham says that, “slashing budgets is counterproductive as modern technologies help thousands of people stay in work and out of hospital” The global medical publisher, BMJ Group writes that, “medical technologies can improve clinical outcomes and experiences of patients and support the wellbeing and personal development of individuals. They can help to achieve savings for the NHS and other areas of public spending in a tight budgetary climate, by improving rehabilitation and independence, supporting care closer to home, and reducing planned and emergency hospital admissions”.

MTG have worked to improve patient access to effective medical technologies, such as Computer Navigated Orthopaedic Surgery, Spinal Cord Stimulator, heart blankets and insulin pumps. None of the products they have promoted have failed. The products they introduce for patients in the UK have been carefully tested, before the Medical Technology Group distributes information about them. As a result, none of their products can be said to have failed.

Heart blankets are an example of a product MTG have promoted on their websites and in other medias. Scientists at Leeds University are at a crucial stage in the development of an innovative artificial heart muscle that helps the heart to beat, called heart blankets. “The technology, made of a web of special material positioned around the heart, has sensors that recognise when the heart wants to beat, triggering a series of miniature motors to make the web contract, helping the heart push blood around the body”. . Barbara Harpham claims this is an amazing new technology that could benefit thousands and save a massive amount of money for the NHS. She says it’s great it is being developed in the UK and funded by a UK charity, and that this is a product that can benefit many patients and their families.

What MTG wants

MTG mean that medical technology gives value for money to the NHS, patients and taxpayers. MTG also believe that uptake of medical technology in the UK is not as good as it should be, and that people need more information about medical technologies to help unlock their value. MTG therefore wants patients to get more information about what technologies are available and appropriate for them, to enable shared decision‐making. They also want training and guidance for clinicians on the choices of medical technology available and how to use them. MTG also wants dissemination of guidance and best practice that explains the patient and cost benefits of appropriate use of medical technology to those commissioning services. The last two things MTG want is involvement of patients in commissioning decisions, and a top‐down systems that incentivise quality and cost effectiveness rather than short-term cost reduction.

MTG members

MTG consists of 40 members, and works as a partnership. “Partnerships are defined as purposive strategic relationships between independent firms who share compatible goals, strive for mutual benefit, and acknowledge a high level of mutual interdependence. They join efforts to achieve goals that each firm, acting alone, could not attain easily”.

List of members:

AdvaMed, Abbot Medical Optics, AntiCoagulation Europe, ARMA, Arrhythmia Alliance, Arthritis Care, Atrial Fibrillation Association, Association of British Healthcare Industries, BD, Bladder and Bowel Foundation, Boston Scientific, British Cardiac Patients’ Association, Cardiomyopathy Association, Circulation Foundation, ConvaTec, CR Bard, Dexcom, Eucomed, FABLE, FEmISA, Heart Research UK, ICD Group, Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia Info and Support, International Alliance of Patients’ Organizations, INPUT, Johnson & Johnson, The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, The Lindsay Leg Club Foundation, Medtronic, National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society, The Patients Association, Patient Information Forum, Pelvic Pain Support Network, Roche Diagnostics, SADS UK, St Jude Medical, STARS, Stryker, Transplant Support Network, Zimmer.

MTG includes individual medical technology companies as well as trade associations.

Lobbying and Other Benefits of Membership

MTG sends out a weekly report to members with all relevant media coverage, parliamentary activity and government announcements. It includes information about MTG and Weber Shandwick activity “to keep all members in the loop”.

Membership also includes:

• 'Access to professional public affairs advice on matters relating to the Group'
• 'Training workshops on lobbying effectiveness, media training and other topics'
• 'Opportunities to meet and network with MPs, patient and professional groups and regulatory bodies such as NICE and NHS PASA.

MTG member organizations can be profiled on a variety of events, such as:

• The Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat annual conferences
• 'The Medical Technology Showcase in the Houses of Parliament where your technologies could be exhibited to MPs and Lords'
• Articles in MTG’s full-colour ‘Bulletin’ which reaches 1000 senior health decision-makers in parliament and the NHS”.

Contacts

MTG lists its PR and lobbying company, Weber Shandwick, as MTG's secretariat and contact point. Weber Shandwick is the UK subsidiary of Weber Shandwick Worldwide, one of the biggest global PR companies, owned by Interpublic. In 2006, the UK subsidiary had a fee income of £28 million. The company has strong ties to the Labour Party through its CEO Colin Byrne. “Weber Shandwick is to lobby on behalf of a body pushing for greater use of technology in the NHS”.

“The head office of Weber Shandwick UK and Ireland is located at:


Weber Shandwick Fox Court
 14 Gray's Inn Road
 London
 WC1X 8WS
 Switchboard: 020 7067 0000


Fax: 0844 875 1463”

"Weber Shandwick provides the Secretariat to MTG". If you want to contact MTG secretariat, use this email: mail@mtg.org.uk

Management Committee

• Chair – Barbara Harpham, Heart Research UK
• Vice-Chair – Richard Phillips, Medtronic
• Treasurer – Sandra Lawrence, Stryker
• John Davis, INPUT
• Joe Gatewood, AdvaMed
• Nathalie Verin, Boston Scientific
• Kieran Murphy, Johnson & Johnson
• Joanna Fearnley, Arrhythmia Alliance

MTG has achieved

2008

MTG believes that the “awareness-raising”. By attending the 2008 Party Conferences, MTG believe that they helped to raise awareness of the under-adoption of medical technology. Under the Party Conferences MTG offered MPs the chance to check they had healthy hearts. MTG takes patients’ views to a wider group of MPs and Peers at our annual Parliamentary Showcase. MTG mean that they appeared regularly in the media, in 2008, to help policy makers and the public learn about the benefits of medical technology. They also think they started to shape the policy agenda. In 2008 MTG worked with parliamentarians to table an amendment to the Health and Social Care Bill. They means that this encouraged the Care Quality Commission to take into account medical technology’s ability to generate cost savings across Government. MTG had regular meetings with NICE, and the meetings helped to ensure that insulin pumps were the very first technology to be the subject of a Commissioning Guide. This supported the NHS in providing more patients with diabetes with this “life-changing technology”. MTG also believes that their submissions to NICE help to convey patients’ views to this key public body, while their briefings to Parliamentarians on current legislation like the Health Bill explain to MPs and Peers the views of their members.

2009

MTG ran a number of campaigns throughout 2009, the activities of MTG included: Publication of MTG Action Plan, Research into the wider societal benefits of medical technology, Parliamentary Showcase, and Dedicated campaign activity.

Publication of MTG Action Plan: The report “Medical Technology – Can we afford to miss out?” highlighted how the UK lags behind many other European countries in its uptake of proven effective technologies. The report gained broad media coverage, including among BBC, HSJ and Pharma Times amongst others. The Action Plan has also been endorsed by front bench MPs from both the Conservative and Liberal Democrats. 



Research into the wider societal benefits of medical technology: MTG commissioned the York Health Economics Consortium to produce a report which would demonstrate the wider societal benefits of medical technologies, the first phase of this was completed in August.

Parliamentary Showcase: The annual Parliamentary Showcase was held on 13 October at Portcullis House. 18 parliamentarians attended over the course of the event including Norman Lamb MP and Sandra Gidley MP from the Shadow Lib Dem health team, high profile labour MPs, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Alan Haselhurst, and a number of Conservative and cross-bench peers with an interest in health. 



Dedicated campaign activity: MTG ran a number of dedicated campaigns, the first of these was around increasing the uptake of Insulin Pumps. MTG had liaised with a number of MPs and expect a series of outputs throughout 2010

If you would like to view full summary of MTG’s achievements in 2009 follow this link: http://www.abhi.org.uk/multimedia/docs/briefings-in-public/Weber%20Shandwick%20presentation%20FINAL.pdf

2010

Before 2010, MTG's plan was to “utilise the recently launched Action Plan, focusing on Conservatives and wider stakeholders. They also wanted to “build links with think tanks, seek out speaking opportunities and will be looking at holding fringe events at events such as the RCN Congress”. MTG also wanted more press coverage in 2010 than the previous year. They also wanted to focus on “patient need”.