Thoughts from the Centre
A personal take on topical issues impacting the Healthcare and Life Sciences sector powered by Deloitte’s UK Centre for Health Solutions.
My Take: Highlights from the 2018 FT Conference panel discussion on the potential for a successful life sciences economy in the UK
By John Haughey, Deloitte Industry Leader, Life Sciences & Health Care
Earlier this month I had the pleasure of chairing a panel of life science experts at the Global Financial Times Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology conference.1 The conference brought together some of our industry’s leading minds to discuss the commercial conundrums of disease prevention, the transformational impact of advanced gene and cell therapies and the hope and hype of patient-centricity. The discussion topic for my panel was - ‘Big Bang? Industrial Strategy - Creating a Successful Life Sciences Economy’, and was focused on the UK’s Industrial Strategy and in particular the UK’s sector deal for life sciences.2 In this week’s blog I wanted to share some of my key takeaways from our animated and insightful discussion.
PFI/PF2 no more – How will the NHS Transform its Estate?
By Claire O’Shaughnessy and James Millar
The NHS is transforming how it delivers its services, but one key aspect to enabling this is the need for significant investment in its Estate. According to Sir Robert Naylor’s report last year, the NHS Estate ranges from world class to poorly utilised and not fit for purpose.1 Moreover, Sir Robert estimated that capital requirements could amount to around £10bn. This investment cannot be delivered through public sector funding alone. However, the Chancellor’s announcement in Budget 2018 that there will be no more Private Finance Initiative (PFI)/Private Finance 2 (PF2) Projects, this cuts off a historically well used option for enabling capital investment in the NHS.2 So what next? There are a myriad of potential solutions, and it will require a combination of traditional and innovative approaches to ensure Estates play their part in the transformation of the NHS.
Bright future: A new vision for eye health
By Mark Steedman, PhD. Research Manager, Centre for Health Solutions
This week’s blog is the third in our series focusing on eye health, which we developed in support of a global policy report that was launched this week at the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH). Our first blog in the series focused on glaucoma, while our second examined new treatments for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). This latest blog focuses on the main findings and recommendations of the full report Bright future: A new vision for eye health.
A bold future for life sciences regulation: Predictions 2025
By Karen Taylor, Director, Centre for Health Solutions
Following our 2014 and 2017 Life Science and Health Care Predictions reports, ‘A bold future?’ and ‘The future awakens’, this week we launched our third predictions report, A bold future for Life Sciences Regulation: Predictions 2025. This year’s report presents an unashamedly optimistic view on what Life Sciences regulation might look like in 2025 if both life science companies and regulators were to work more collaboratively, embrace disruptive technologies, and acquire new skills and talent. We argue that this would improve not only the productivity of the regulators and industry but also provide patients with access to the latest medical innovation much sooner. We also imagine through a series of ‘portraits’ how a regulator, company and patient might behave in 2025. This week’s blog provides an overview of the four predictions presented in our future of regulation report and examples of the evidence today that enable us to predict a bold future for life sciences regulation in 2025.
The rise of e-mental health: How can digital technology build resilience?
By Dr Francesca Properzi, PhD. Research Manager, Centre for Health Solutions
Earlier this year, a team of US scientists connected the brains of three people using an interface made of electroencephalography and magnetic stimulation technologies. The new network enabled the three people to communicate by thinking, exchange ideas and successfully play a collaborative game.1 This ground-breaking experiment is yet one example of many other recent scientific advances where digital technologies are transforming our understanding of the mind. While controversial and somewhat alarming, these developments also present a unique opportunity to protect and support mental health, at a time of unprecedented technological changes.
Digital transformation in biopharma: Time for a sea change in strategy
By Mark Steedman, PhD. Research Manager, Centre for Health Solutions
Deloitte recently conducted a survey with the MIT Sloan Management Review to assess the digital maturity of companies across a wide variety of industries.1 Our colleagues in the US Center for Health Solutions analysed the responses from biopharma companies and published them in a separate report - Survey finds biopharma companies lag in digital transformation: It is time for a sea change in strategy.2 Headlining the report is the finding that only 20 per cent of biopharma respondents think their companies are digitally mature, compared to 30 per cent across all industries.3
Insights from our State of the State 2018-19 report: How health sector leaders and citizens view the outlook for NHS and social care services
By Karen Taylor, Director, Centre for Health Solutions
Last week, my public sector colleagues, together with the think tank Reform, published their seventh annual report The State of the State 2018-19: Government beyond Brexit.1 The report once again brought together Deloitte and Reform to reflect on our most pressing public sector issues. The evidence for the report includes a deep analysis of published data, a citizen survey and exclusive interviews with the people who understand the public sector’s challenges best – the people who run it. As in previous years, the NHS and social care are a central feature of the report, and I have used this week’s blog to highlight the main findings on the ‘State of the NHS and social care’.
World Mental Health Day: ‘R U OK’?
By Elizabeth Hampson, Director, Monitor Deloitte
Wednesday 10th October was World Mental Health Day 2018, and coincidentally last week I presented the findings from our work in support of the independent review of mental health and employers by Lord Dennis Stevenson and Paul Farmer ‘Thriving at Work’.1 Our report Mental Health and Wellbeing in Employment: A supporting study for the Independent Review explored the cost of poor mental health and the return on investment for employers from mental health interventions in the workplace, and showcased good practice examples from other countries.2 My presentation, in conjunction with Mind, the mental health charity whose CEO is Paul Farmer, was to senior executives from all Virgin companies at one of the Branson homes in Oxfordshire.
Fighting the opioid crisis – a UK perspective
By Matthew Thaxter
By now, it is likely that most people have heard about the ongoing opioid crisis in the US, as barely a day goes by without some form of media coverage. Recent stories have also emerged of a significant upward trend in opioid prescriptions in the UK. This blog explores some of the drivers behind the US crisis, and how likely we are to see a similar epidemic here in the UK.
Consumers want connected medical devices, but demand for digital experts could put further strain on the talent pool for medtech
By Pedro Arboleda, managing director, Deloitte Consulting LLP
This week, running from September the 24th to the 26th, our colleagues in the US attended AdvaMed’s annual MedTech Conference. At the conference participants heard about the latest innovations, such as new digital products that incorporate the latest advances in wireless technology and increasingly powerful computing capabilities for generating clinical and economic insights. This week’s blog, by Pedro Arboleda, first appeared on the US Center for health solutions website.1 Below, he discusses his worry that given the rapid advancement in digital technologies the industry might overlook another important change that is occurring in parallel—the ability to attract the specific digital talent needed to deliver on the promise of connected medical devices.