Who Is Taking Responsibility For Driving Innovation In Healthcare: The NHS Or The Private Sector?

The NHS is not the same institution initially founded in the 1940s. Over its years of service, it has evolved and innovated as medicine itself has moved forward. Bearing in mind the pressure to offer the best standards of care combined with the most advanced treatment options, combined with the challenge of a rapidly increasing and elderly population, should it be the NHS or the private sector that takes the responsibility for driving innovation in healthcare?

The Case for the NHS

The NHS is the main care provider in the UK. With so many people passing through the doors of the NHS hospitals and clinics every year, there are already huge resources being deployed and the number of varying cases must provide an enormous knowledge bank.

It is not unreasonable, therefore, to imagine that a fair amount of innovation happens within the NHS. And that does not necessarily large scale or technological-driven changes. From staff on wards realising that there is a better way to carry out a certain task to labs equipped with the latest equipment and highly trained technicians, there is plenty of scope for the NHS to innovate and develop new techniques. In their 70+ years of history already, they have already invented and contributed much to global medicine.

However, as we are all aware, the NHS is under enormous pressure and the current focus is dealing with a backlog of cases. The NHS is a vast, hugely complicated behemoth and the priority must surely be getting its house in order to ensure systems are functioning seamlessly and patients have the best possible healthcare, delivered in a timely and efficient manner?

The Case for the Private Sector

As was evident during the pandemic, the NHS can only function with support from external sources and that includes the private sector.

The structure of the private sector is vastly different and individual companies often have the resources to devote themselves to one main area of study and research rather than focusing on a big range of topics. As can be seen by companies such as June Medical, inventor of a new advancement for surgical retractors, this can produce some great results.

We have also seen the speed at which private companies can work, with the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca working with Oxford University to develop one of the first Covid vaccines.

There is plenty left to discover in medicine. Organisations and institutions such as the NHS have to worry about many aspects of healthcare. With funding from other partners, the private sector might be able to discover certain innovations at an accelerated rate compared to what the NHS can manage.

Outside of this – particularly in the US healthcare market – organising databases and developing means to safely and securely transfer and make accessible patient data is of importance. Blockchain technologies is often seen as one tool to full unlocking the potential here.

Whose Responsibility is It?

So, who should be handling these innovations and discoveries? In truth, there is no right answer. The NHS will continue to deliver the best results given its resources and limitations, while the private sector will continue to follow its path. That innovation lies with just one of these entities invalidates the other’s accomplishments.

There will always be something new to discover in the world of medicine. There is no advantage to keeping health innovations purely within the world of private or public development. Good healthcare is and always should be universal and there is much that both sectors can learn from each other.

Though we might see an increase in medical innovations from the private sector as they gain funding, they are soon put to use in the public sector through organisations like the NHS. This is the way the relationship should continue to develop in the future.