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Health Technology Wales
Health Technology Wales (HTW) is a national body working to improve the quality of care in Wales. they have collaborated with partners across health, social care and the technology sectors to ensure an allWelsh approach. Funded by Welsh Government and hosted within the Welsh NHS, HTW is an independent organisation. They have recently been working on a variety of exciting projects, including their Strategic Plan for 2021-2025 which has recently been published. The plan outlines HTW’s goals to drive improvements in population health and social care services by applying the best available evidence to inform decisions on the appropriate use of health and social care technology innovations in Wales.
HTW have recently been working with Social Care Wales, exploring whether their methods and processes are appropriate for social care and to raise awareness of their remit. In May, they facilitated a roundtable for experts and high level decision makers within Wales to discuss how health technology assessment and social care sit together. Furthermore, in June they helped to run a workshop for people accessing and working in social care to provide feedback on the appropriateness of HTW’s processes. They also played an intricate role in the Wales COVID-19 Evidence Centre but engaging exclusively in the development of the evaluation methods of the centre which are being used to better inform Wales on COVID-19 topics. HTW has lead reviews on a range of COVID-19 related topics, including face coverings, surveillance and Oximetry. This research has directly influenced the COVID-19 strategy within Wales. A final project to touch upon, is the pilot of the HTW adoption audit process. They have consulted widely with stakeholders across Wales, including those involved in the assessment of medicine and non-medicine technologies, commissioning and procurement and international partners with experience in this area. HTW have met with named contacts from each local health board and commissioning bodies, ensuring their effort are aligned with and fit existing processes. They’re developed a draft adoption audit process as a result and are now preparing the pilot their audit with eight guidance, already published.
