Developers of innovative health technologies are being encouraged to attend free Welsh Health Workshops.

Health Technology Wales, an organisation set up by Welsh Government in 2017, is holding the workshops in its role to improve care through the identification, appraisal and adoption of non-medicine health technologies.

The workshops on Health Technology Assessment and Health Economics will be held on Wednesday 11 December 2019. They’re being held at the Life Sciences Hub Wales, who have collaborated to deliver the workshops and build capacity for evidence-informed decision making.

“We can make a real difference to help service users, providers and industry in Wales,” said Dr Susan Myles, Director of Health Technology Wales. “Whether you’re an experienced practitioner or have a passing interest in health and social care, we’ll help you to breakdown and learn about how we appraise health technologies. The themes we explore will be topical and thought provoking, equipping you with transferrable skills to take back to your role.”

The Cedar Evaluation Centre and Swansea Centre for Health Economics (SCHE) deliver the workshops on behalf of Health Technology Wales. Both workshops teach the basic principles of the subjects, enabling participants to apply the information to real life scenarios.

The workshops focus on key concepts and methods, applying them to actual technologies that Health Technology Wales has appraised and published Guidance for. Participants are also talked through the topic proposal processes and encouraged to consider topics they can suggest to Health Technology Wales for appraisal.

There have been six workshops held so far in 2019. Participants have come from diverse cross-sector backgrounds, including; NHS Wales, academia, patient representatives and industry. They’ve also held a variety of roles in health and social care, ranging from innovation leads at health boards to technology developers.