Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI)
About the ABHI
The ABHI is the lead UK trade association for the medical technology industry. It proactively works with its member organisations to advance and promote medical devices and equipment, medical technologies and services. The fruits of this work in supporting the industry and seeing it prosper and develop leading-edge treatments are shared by all: the patient, the clinician, the economy and the sector's many employees.

Healthcare Industries Task Force (HITF) report from ABHI

The Healthcare Industries Task Force (HITF) is a joint government-healthcare industry initiative that brought together government and industry leaders to identify steps to develop and strengthen performance of the UK healthcare industry and maximise the benefit to patients from healthcare products.

The Task Force was the first of its kind at a strategic level in this country and it brought together senior decision-makers from Government and industry to identify opportunities for closer working for the benefit of all stakeholders, including patients and healthcare professionals

The HITF report - launched by Lord Warner and Sir Christopher O'Donnell from Imperial College in November 2004  - was the result of 18 months of work by over 200 experts from government, industry and the medical profession.

Its key outputs form an exciting blueprint that could lead to major medical breakthroughs, improve quality of care for patients and herald a new era of co-operation between the NHS and the medical technology industry.

The report contained five major outputs: 

	A new Device Evaluation Service (DES) to make it easier to identify new devices and accelerate the process of getting these used across the UK.
	A modern approach to NHS regional procurement so that the best technology is bought for the best value.
	An Innovation Centre to pull together all the innovative work done in the NHS and link this to the existing networks around which the Medical Devices Faraday operates.
	The building of a new research and development capacity that gives more prominence to developing new medical devices.
	Activity to assess the needs, capacity for delivery and benefits associated with a more structured approach to training and development, especially in relation to the use of medical devices.

The ABHI is working with the government to help put the HITF plans into action and see patients get better, less invasive treatments faster.

Events:

Presenting ABHI’s Annual Conference

The Changing UK Market for Medical Devices:

3 – 4 July 2006, Marriott Hotel Kensington, London

The impacts are already clear. NHS spending decisions have changed For Medical Device Manufacturers, the right understanding of the impacts of NHS change and the knowledge to adapt their own strategies successfully, are the vital safeguards against the very real risk of plunging profitability.   Attend the 2006 Meeting Hub for Accessing the essential knowledge tool kit for medical devices manufacturers wanting to maximise market opportunities and gain access to the NHS Market place Medical device manufacturers and NHS Decision makers to discuss the changing market and learn, understand and drive change forward effectively Gain vital knowledge and understanding of the changes affecting the NHS and devise strategies that will increase market penetration "Broad range of themed sessions, which covered the most pertinent and dynamic issues facing the industry" Medtronic, 2005