We are once again delighted at Health Analytical Solutions Ltd., to have successfully secured positive NICE advice for a KCI product (an Acelity company). NICE have said that KCI’s product V.A.C VERAFLO™ Therapy System based on evidence “Is more effective than standard of care, including moist wound care and normal NPWT, in the treatment of acutely infected or chronic non-healing wounds.”

This was completed under the NICE program of Medical Innovation Briefing (MIB) to support new innovation through adoption.

https://www.nice.org.uk/advice/mib189

"Is more effective than standard of care”

The Veraflo Therapy System differs from other NPWT therapies such as Smith & Nephew PICO product, as it is designed to deliver the application and wash out of a cleansing solution, in combination with automated cycles of NPWT.

The technology allows for repeated cleansing without the need for dressing removal, resulting in potential reductions in nursing time, dressing changes and risk of contamination. The company claims it is the first device in the UK to allow combined installation of fluids and removal of exudate at the same time as the delivery of NPWT.

NICE have stated ‘The cost of V.A.C Veraflo Therapy System is £82.06 per wound per day’. The resource impact would be greater than standard care due to incurred costs of device rental. The technology may offset these costs with potential savings related to decreases in dressing changes and nursing time, number of sharp debridements and shorter hospital stays.

This will support the adoption within the NHS demonstrating the clear benefits of using V.A.C VERAFLO™ and would replace normal NPWT in standard care in people with open infected wounds or chronic wounds that fail to respond to the standard of care pathway.

“Specialists say that its more innovative”

Three specialists consider the technology to be innovative compared with the UK standard of care and they commented that the instillation aspect of the technology is innovative.

Increasing SSI rates in the NHS

Between April 2013 and March 2018, the NHS completed a surveillance audit of SSIs across the participating NHS hospitals. There were 674,437 operations completed in the audit with an infection total of 7,890 (1.2%), with some of the highest infection rates of 8.7% / 6.7% for large and small bowel surgery.

Guest et al. reported that during 2012/13 the NHS was managing 2.2 million patients with a wound. This equated to an average of 11,200 wounds to be managed per CCG/Health Board, 48% of which would be considered chronic.

Spend could be as high as £20,000 per patient if they get an SSI

As NICE referenced a cost per SSI to be in the region of £2,100 to £10,500, this could be between £16.5m to £82.8m cost to the NHS. In the same report from NICE, expert opinion stated it could be higher, of between £14,000 to £20,000 per patient depending on complexity. However, from the “under the knife” report in 2011, looking at UK hospitals, the overall cost to the system was estimated at nearer £700m per annum.

Our services at Health Analytical Solutions Ltd, cover the full market access pathway of Med-Tech adoption. If you wish to have a free 30 minute consultation to discuss your requirements then please drop us a line.

If you wish to read more about what we do and how we have helped other companies, please click the link below:

https://www.healthanalyticalsolutions.co.uk/our-services

We wish KCI all the success in the next step of the journey and look forward to hearing how the success has changed their market, here in the UK.

#Medtech #Innovation #Infection #NICE #Woundcare