The UK is world leader in research, development, and innovation, and is home to some of the world’s most distinguished scientists and innovators. The UK is a key influencer of European healthcare regulation, and products approved in the UK have access to the whole European market. The UK’s healthcare industry is one of its strongest sectors, and has a great advantage with the National Health Service (NHS) recognized the world over as a benchmark of clinical excellence.

There are plans to increase funding for health research in the UK to ￡1.7 billion per year by 2010-11. The NHS’s budget is set to increase by 4% per year until 2010-11, taking it from ￡90 billion in 2007-08 to ￡110 billion by 2010-11. A new Health Innovation Council, consisting of members of the NHS, academia and industry, will also receive ￡100 million to consider introducing new ideas in pharmaceuticals, other medical technologies, clinical practice, delivery models of service and management.

Healthcare in the UK operates in a golbalised and increasingly consolidated market and, as quickly as consolidation occurs, new companies emerge, all requiring continuous investment in skills, knowledge and specialized infrastructure.

UK healthcare exports

Between 2000 and 2005, UK-based medical device manufacturers saw their profits increase by almost 74%, with sales of ￡4.7bn in 2004, according to Office of National Statistics figures. In 2006, healthcare goods and services to the value of ￡14billion were exported.

UK healthcare consultants, using the experience gained from working closely with the UK Government and NHS, are world-renowned. Their activities range from advising governments on how to structure their health services, to using models based on the UK’s private Finance Initiative (PFI) to fund hospital construction.

Investing in the UK healthcare sector

The UK is a popular destination for large, multinational companies, notably from the USA. More than half (57%) of all European Headquarters of global companies are based in the UK, with the number f companies choosing the UK rapidly increasing.

The UK’s increasing presence in the global healthcare market has been attributed to three main factors:

• excellent working relationships between industry, Government, the NHS, the private sector and voluntary organizations.
• a highly developed healthcare infrastructure, including expertise in public private partnerships, and
• an outstanding and well-supported research base.

The NHS is a huge employer in the UK, with a workforce of more than 1.3 million, giving companies and investors access to a large resource of clinicians, patients, trials, research and range of specialities. The NHS also spends approximately ￡15 billion each year on goods and services.

Leading on research

The UK is home to just 1% of the world’s population, yet undertakes 5% of the world’s science, produces 9-11% of its academic papers and generates 12% of its citations. UK researchers publish around 25% of the papers found in all English language scientific journals, with the UK being number one in terms of the international impact of its research output.

The UK is a world leader in healthcare education and training, being home to 29 medical schools, including many deemed to be world class and 18 royal colleges. It is home to four of the world’s top 20 universities, with the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford being ranked two and three respectively, followed by Imperial College London and the London School of Economics.

Alongside the 29 universities providing medical education, there are 108 higher education institutions providing undergraduate courses in nursing and applied health professions and each year 170 UK universities/higher education institutes produce approximately 300,000 graduates and almost 100,000 postgraduates at a Masters level, and 15,000 at a doctorate level.

Regulation of medical devices

All medical devices in the UK are subject to regulation by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The MHRA is one of the most respected regulatory agencies in the world. The Agency has the power to withdraw a product from the market and can prosecute manufacturers if it finds that laws have been broken.

The MHRA is responsible for appointing the UK’s Notified Bodies, which verifies the safety of devices before granting permission to use a Conformity European (CE) marking. A medical device cannot generally be marketed in Europe without carrying a CE marking, which shows that a device meets the relevant regulatory requirements and, when used as intended, works properly and safely.

The UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC) is working to establish the UK as a world leader in clinical research, harnessing the power of the NHS through a partnership of organisations. It aims to improve the research infrastructure in the NHS, encourage more clinical staff to consider research careers, co-ordinate the funding of research and produce streamlined regulatory guidelines to ensure the safety and confidentiality of patients.

More information about UK healthcare, such as in-vitro diagnostics, imaging, patient card and rehabilitation, wound care and advanced wound care, healthcare equipment, dentistry, orthopaedics, cardiology, radiotherapy, e-health, and respiratory anaesthetics, you can download the brochure Healthcare UK (PDF, 783K).