Thank you to all those who responded to the hospital medical devices discussion document released in May 2014 either in writing or through attendance at the many meetings and regional forums that were held around the country. We appreciated the time and effort involved in providing feedback, which has been invaluable as we develop our hospital medical devices role.  The feedback received will continue to be used as our medical device activity grows.

Overall both the written and verbal submissions reflected general support for the proposed approach. Key themes were similar to those raised during earlier consultations and most people were seeking clarification on specific issues rather than expressing any major disagreement or significant concern about PHARMAC’s proposal.

A summary of the feedback and PHARMAC’s response is set out in the table below. The most commonly raised issue was the need to ensure PHARMAC obtains the right advice (both clinical and non-clinical), from the right people to be able to make robust decisions.  PHARMAC understands that the organisation will need to work with the relevant experts as activity is undertaken in different categories of medical device. Other themes included the need for better quality evidence regarding effectiveness and risk to inform decision making, the importance of considering the features of medical devices that may affect their usability and concerns about the timeframes and implications of budget management of medical devices.

For more details, go to: http://www.pharmac.health.nz/news/notification-2014-12-19-feedback-hospital-devices-proposed-approach/