Virendra Sharma MP pledges support for medical technology to help NHS recovery

Virendra Sharma, MP for Ealing Southall, is supporting a new drive to ensure the NHS makes the best use of life-changing medical technology and that patients have equal access to it regardless of where they live.
Virendra Sharma gave their backing to the initiative at the Houses of Parliament during a reception organised by the Medical Technology Group (MTG), a coalition of patient groups, research charities and medical device manufacturers, working together to make medical technologies available to everyone who needs them. The event was the centrepiece of activities to mark Medical Technology Awareness Week (22nd - 28th November) as well as the group’s 20th anniversary.
Medical technology has transformed healthcare since the MTG was created two decades ago, improving patients’ lives, making the NHS safer and more efficient, and helping people back to work.
It has also played a key part in tackling the pandemic, through devices ranging from diagnostic testing to ventilators and remote monitoring equipment. As the NHS deals with growing waiting lists that have resulted it can help in other ways including minimally invasive therapies, such as transcatheter heart procedures, which mean patients recover quicker and need to spend less time in hospital, and insulin pumps and glucose monitors that help patients manage their conditions themselves.
Access to medical technology varies significantly depending on policies in each NHS area, however, meaning what you receive can depend on where you live, not what you need.
Speaking at the MTG reception, Virendra Sharma said, “We all have loved ones who have benefited from medical technology at some point in their lives. It has made an enormous difference to the quality of the care they have received.
“Medical technology has been shown to reduce healthcare spending and streamline services so it can play a key role in helping the NHS recover from the pandemic. Adopting it more widely is also key to creating a healthcare system that is fit for the future.
“We must address the postcode lottery, level up services, and ensure patients have a say in the treatments available so that they receive the best care no matter where they are in the country.”
To highlight the role that medical technology has played in making healthcare more efficient and safer, and to encourage greater uptake, the MTG has produced a manifesto ‘MedTech The Solution’. It calls for better access to reduce pressure, clinician time, and costly interventions in the NHS.