October 2023
Guest editor: Grace Hampson | Associate Director
How can we realise the potential of prevention to build a healthier society?
We often hear that prevention is better than cure. The reality is more nuanced than this well-worn phrase conveys but there is no doubt that healthcare systems spend startlingly little on prevention. Particularly in contrast with the scale of healthcare budgets and the future savings that could be achieved.
Consider diabetes, which costs the UK’s National Health Service an estimated £10 billion every year. A figure already equivalent to 10% of the overall budget, yet still not accounting for the wider costs to society such as associated social service spend, reduced workforce productivity, and lost tax revenues.
The NHS’ diabetes prevention programme (DPP), first launched in 2016, has been shown to reduce the chance of developing diabetes by 37% and is considered highly cost-effective. Given the compelling investment case, it is encouraging that patient access to the programme was doubled from 100,000 to 200,000 a year in 2019. Until you consider the enormity of the problem. Here in the UK, an estimated 13.6 million people are eligible for the DPP, meaning it would take more than 60 years to reach everyone at current funding levels.
The challenges of allocating healthcare budgets are well documented. It is entirely understandable that treating the sick today feels more urgent than the promise of future health gains, however tantalising the potential prize.
With our latest report, Reimagining Prevention, we have analysed the key prevention programmes delivered through the NHS and found a highly variable picture that reflects these budgeting challenges but also speaks to an overall lack of ambition.
We have outlined six areas for action, including long-term cross-party agreement, a dedicated prevention fund, and alternative sources of funding, such as social impact bonds. We are only at the beginning and much more needs to be done to shift mindsets and explore the practicalities of the ideas proposed.
Most important will be engaging with the wide range of stakeholders needed to bring about change, which includes government, healthcare providers, industry, researchers, and members of the public. Our upcoming webinar is a chance to learn more about our report as well as hearing the views of some of these stakeholders on how to move forward.
NEW FROM OHE
In this report, we highlight the significance of prevention as a cost-effective and often cost-saving investment for public sector resources.
Prevention, covering primary, secondary, and tertiary measures, can help to reduce ill health, improve healthcare capacity, and increase wider economic growth.
The Future of Health Europe 2023 convened public, private, and civil sectors across health and technology.
One of four tracks was ‘sustainability’, many aspects of which, and what it means in a healthcare context, were covered.
A number of key themes emerged and were echoed by multiple participants across multiple sessions as our write-up explores.
In this Insights series we have paired members of the OHE team with an external collaborator to shed some light and share some insights on HTA around the world.
In our sixth edition, Róbert Babeľa from Slovak Medical University, Jake Hitch (ex-OHE) and Patricia Cubi-Molla from OHE take us to the Slovak Republic.
Including the impact of informal carers on health-related quality of life (QOL) in health technology assessments (HTAs) of new medical technologies is important for efficiency and equity reasons.
This article in Pharmacoeconomics argues that if stakeholders opted to ignore the impact of the new technology on informal carers, they would end up in the ‘carer QALY trap’.
Could efforts to reduce waiting times for cancer diagnosis be negated if they induce increases in demand?
In this article in The European Journal of Health Economics, OHE and University of Manchester authors look at the impact of a pilot program aimed at reducing waiting times for urgent cancer diagnosis in hospitals, on GP referral volumes.
We are happy to share the outstanding success of OHE's Fred McElwee who is one of the winners of the Valuing Innovation Project Call for Papers by The Innovation and Value Initiative (IVI).
Fred, alongside co-author Anthony Newall, submitted a pioneering piece of research titled "The Value of Flexible Vaccine Manufacturing Capacity: Value Drivers, Estimation Methods, and Approaches to Value Recognition in Health Technology Assessment".
EVENTS
29 November 2023 | Webinar
This webinar will build on the recommendations made in the OHE report: Reimagining Prevention for a Healthier, More Prosperous Society.
Experts will share insights from a range of perspectives on the strategies that could usher in a new era of optimised prevention.
Insights from the Annual Lecture
OHE invited Climate Change Economist, Professor Elizabeth Robinson to give the 2023 Lecture at the Royal Society of Medicine.
She used the opportunity to demonstrate the importance of a one health perspective when transitioning into a climate-resilient future.
12-15 November | Copenhagen
If you want to catch OHE experts at ISPOR Europe this year, you'll find us at a range of sessions in Copenhagen.
Topics include the value of immunisation, the STEDI framework for valuing antibiotics, and whether environmental impacts should factor in HTA evaluations.