It is important that patients, carers and members of the public can have their say with Health Technology Wales, the national body working to improve the quality of care in Wales.
Health Technology Wales is committed to meaningful patient, carer and public involvement in the identification, appraisal and adoption of non-medicine health technologies.
Why is this important to health and social care?
With a remit that covers (but isn’t limited to) medical devices, surgical procedures, psychological therapies or tele-monitoring, it’s important that Health Technology Wales follows national and international best practice.
Public engagement helps Health Technology Wales to ensure its work programme is relevant to national priorities and keeps it at the leading edge of health technology assessment (HTA).
Health Technology Wales is taking steps to ensure its efforts aren’t tokenistic and that the views and voices of patients and carers are able to have an impact on its work. Patients, carers and the public hold unique knowledge and experienced that can’t be found in clinical studies.
In addition to giving input on the appraisal of specific technologies, it’s vital that Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) shapes Health Technology Wales’ processes.
What is Health Technology doing to engage with patients, carers and the public?
Health Technology Wales’ first steps towards effective PPI began with appointment of a named PPI Lead. It then prioritised Public Partner recruitment and formed a PPI Standing Group, so that they could inform work and Guidance from the outset. Health Technology Wales now has six Public Partners serving on our key committees and has recently appointed a PPI Officer.
The PPI Standing Group held its inaugural meeting in April 2019 and meets four times a year. The members give direction and guidance so that Health Technology Wales establishes and maintains effective PPI throughout its work.
Alice Evans, PPI Officer at Health Technology Wales, said:
“The group has co-produced tools that will enable patients and patient representatives to share their perspectives in a way that can impact our appraisals. These tools are currently being piloted and will be made publicly available to share with the international HTA community.
“We are trialling a range of PPI mechanisms and will utilise a formal evaluation framework. This allows us to learn from early implementation feedback and respond to the evolving HTA landscape and emerging PPI best practices.”
How you can get involved
There are events being planned for early 2020. This will ensure Health Technology Wales considers things that really matter to the people of Wales. Interested in attending? Visit www.healthtechnology.wales for future updates.
Non-medicine health and care technologies make a real difference to people’s lives in Wales. Do you know a non-medicine technology that Health Technology Wales could appraise? Anyone can suggest a topic at www.healthtechnology.wales/suggest-a-topic
Health Technology Wales is funded by Welsh Government and hosted within Velindre University NHS Trust but is independent of both. It also acts as an initial point of contact, or ‘front door’ for technology developers and industry.
