The UK government has set out to improve access to healthcare technology within the National Health Service (NHS) through the new National Healthtech Access Programme (NHAP).
The collaborative scheme, which was forged by UK health regulators, health-focused government departments and the NHS, will see the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) incorporate health technologies into its appraisal programme – including medical devices, diagnostics and digital tools.
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This will allow innovations to become available to patients across the NHS, subject to cost-benefit analyses.
According to Jonathan Benger, chief executive of NICE, this scheme will give patients “faster access to proven technologies”, while ensuring that NHS resources are spent optimally for the greatest impact.
The NHAP scheme, which was previously called the Rules Based Pathway, falls under the UK government’s wider 10 Year Health Plan for England. The plan aims to direct the NHS’s focus to preventative care from its prior sickness-based model through the use of technology. It plans to achieve this by providing efficient early diagnosis and screening services to patients.
To begin proceedings under the NHAP initiative, NICE will review non-invasive capsule sponge tests designed to identify oesophageal cancer cases, as well as artificial intelligence (AI)-driven, efficiency-driving diagnostic tools for breast and prostate cancer.
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By GlobalDataIn another bid to improve cancer care in the UK, government ministers have referred two more oncology diagnostics for review through the NHAP scheme. These tests are designed to detect endometrial and lung cancer.
This push to improve the efficiency of cancer diagnosis in the UK comes as the government looks to enact the National Cancer Plan for England, which is focused on speeding up patient diagnosis and treatment within oncology through the NHS.
Health technology sees a surge
As health technology continues to capture the attention of global regulators, certain types of tech are rapidly gaining prevalence.
This includes AI, which has been touted as a strong tool for companies across the life sciences sector due to its ability to drive efficiency.
As AI continues to have a profound impact on the medtech sector, regulators are increasingly looking to ensure these technologies are widely employed safely and effectively.
In the UK, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) introduced an AI Commission back in September 2025. The regulator created this board to demystify regulatory uncertainty around the technology and encourage the use of AI in the wider healthcare sector.
Meanwhile, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is actively encouraging the development of AI-enabled medical devices that align with regulatory expectations as the agency looks to employ the technology within its own workflow.
The US is currently the leading country in terms of AI adoption within the medical device industry, according to GlobalData.
