The top three priorities for pharma, medtech and device companies in the evolving NHS

The NHS is changing and it’s changing fast.

A new operating model is emerging, driven by Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), empowered primary care and a commitment to population health.

In this environment, pharma, medtech and device companies can no longer rely on the traditional approach of leading with product features and expecting clinical efficacy alone to drive adoption.

The question I’m often asked is: “What are the top three things companies like ours should be focusing on right now to stay relevant and add value to the NHS?”

After many years of working closely with NHS leaders, frontline clinicians and system planners, my answer is consistent:

1.     Align with the NHS’s “Three Shifts”.

2.     Reimagine the brand plan.

3.     Demonstrate measurable value.

These aren’t just strategy soundbites, they are critical adaptations companies must make if they want to stay embedded in NHS pathways in a world that’s rapidly moving beyond transactional product sales.

Market access and sales teams should align with the NHS’s “Three Shifts”

The NHS is moving forward under a clear framework for transformation, which some describe as the “Three Shifts”:

1.     From treatment to prevention.

2.     From hospital to community.

3.     From analogue to digital.

Every ICB is expected to design, deliver and commission services in ways that support this direction. The logic is compelling: the NHS cannot continue to absorb cost and demand at the back end of care. It must get upstream, earlier, faster and in more personalised ways.

From treatment to prevention

This shift is not optional, it’s existential. ICBs are under pressure to reduce avoidable hospital admissions, slow the progression of long term conditions, and invest in health improvement. As a result, system leaders are actively looking for partners who can help with risk stratification and early identification of at risk patients, interventions that delay deterioration and dependency and innovations that keep people healthy, not just treat them once they’re ill.

Pharma, medtech and device companies that bring forward preventive solutions, from diagnostic tools and remote monitoring to therapies that delay disease progression, will find themselves better aligned with where NHS investment is going.

But this transformation will not happen without a fundamental rethinking of medicines optimisation. Too often, medicines optimisation is reduced to cost containment, a focus on cheaper generics, cost saving switches and prescribing budget control. That mindset is out of step with where the NHS needs to go.

Medicines Optimisation should be focused on value

As argued in my related blog “Medicines Optimisation: More than just cost savings,” true optimisation is about getting the most health value from every medicine, ensuring the right molecule reaches the right patient at the right time, with the right support.

Better prescribing isn’t a cost; it’s a prevention strategy. The real opportunity lies in investing the prescribing budget not to save money in isolation, but to avoid deterioration, reduce demand elsewhere in the system and support patients to remain well and independent.

Medicines that improve adherence, delay disease progression and reduce avoidable GP visits, referrals and non-elective admissions should be seen as enablers of a proactive, population health led NHS.

For industry, this means shifting the conversation away from drug price and formulary status and toward total system value. It’s not about the cheapest option; it’s about the smartest investment in long term outcomes.

Care models should reach beyond hospital to the community

Wes Streeting’s recent statement that GPs should run local hospitals reflects a wider shift in policy thinking: hospitals must be hubs, not bottlenecks. Care needs to be brought closer to people, in their homes, neighbourhoods and community clinics.

For companies, this means asking how your solution supports care outside hospitals, if your product can be administered in the community and if you can enable nurse led delivery, remote initiation or pharmacy management.

If your commercial model still relies primarily on specialist led prescribing in hospital outpatient clinics, it may be increasingly at risk and may need to be reimagined. NHS policy and commissioning are moving decisively toward care models that shift diagnostics, treatment initiation and monitoring into community settings. As a result, solutions that require hospital only access, tertiary centre initiation or consultant only prescribing rights could face delays, reduced uptake or find it challenging to be included in pathway designs.

To stay relevant, companies need to reimagine their model around out of hospital care. This means enabling delivery through Integrated Neighbourhood Teams (INTs)/Primary Care Networks (PCNs), supporting community diagnostics hubs and integrating with the rapidly expanding infrastructure of virtual wards and home based care. Products and services that are community initiated, nurse delivered, pharmacist managed or digitally monitored will be far better positioned to grow.

The future lies in accessibility, scalability and simplicity. Companies that design for community deployment, bundling medicines with remote monitoring, wraparound services or training that supports task shifting to non-specialists, will align with the NHS’s direction of travel and unlock greater market access.

Digital thinking is now a prerequisite

This final shift is now supercharged. With the government committing £10 billion to digital transformation in the NHS and the sector reacting positively to that record investment, digital maturity is now a prerequisite for partnership.

Companies need to think:

• Can your intervention be integrated with NHS digital infrastructure?
• Do you offer real time data, decision support, or patient tracking?
• Are you enabling workflow efficiencies and clinical productivity?

Digital readiness is no longer a differentiator, it’s a requirement. If your offer isn’t digitally compatible, it risks being excluded from the design of future pathways. NHS systems are moving rapidly toward integrated, digital first care models where data flows across settings, remote monitoring is standard and decision support tools guide personalised treatment.

This isn’t just about having an app or a dashboard. It’s about how your product or service fits into the NHS’s connected care infrastructure, from shared care records and population health platforms to virtual wards, e-consultations and AI-supported triage. If your solution can’t support interoperability, automate reporting or enhance productivity through integration with clinical systems like EMIS, SystmOne, or the NHS App, it might struggle to gain traction.

To be included in care pathways, companies must demonstrate how their solution supports smarter workflows and contributes to more personalised, data driven care. Digital capability is now an entry ticket, not to the conversation, but to actual adoption and commissioning.

It’s time to reimagine the brand plan

Here’s a suggestion that some find controversial: the traditional brand plan is no longer fit for purpose.

For too long, pharma, medtech and device companies have focused on brand plans built around clinical trial data, product features and comparators and messaging for individual prescribers.

That model is increasingly out of step with NHS reality. Brand planning today needs to evolve – radically – in three core ways:

1. Move from product to service

Brand plans must articulate how your offer works as a service proposition. This means focusing less on what the product is, and more on what it does.

Ask:

• How does your solution address a defined system pressure?
• Can it be bundled with nurse support, training, data, logistics or education?
• Is there a service pathway attached that makes adoption easy and scalable?

Think in terms of “solution brands”, not just product.

2. Anchor in system level outcomes

Modern brand plans must demonstrate alignment with NHS priorities, especially the Core20PLUS5 framework, reducing health inequalities and tackling variation in care. They must connect to the goals of ICS five year plans, Joint Forward Plans and local population health strategies.

Brand messaging should not just speak to individual prescribers, but to system stakeholders, those in transformation roles, pathway leads and place based partnerships.

3. Deliver value beyond the pill

Ask what your brand brings in terms of:

• Cost avoidance.
• Bed days saved.
• Reduced admissions or readmissions.
• Workforce release.
• Quality of life or PROMS improvement.

These are the currencies that matter to NHS buyers and planners. If your brand plan doesn’t reference them, it will feel disconnected from the challenges your NHS customers are facing.

Demonstrate measurable value

Let’s be clear: most companies still lead with input metrics, sales calls made, HCPs trained, awareness increased. But NHS systems are asking a different question:

1. What measurable impact are you delivering in the real world?

It’s not enough to say your intervention is clinically effective. Companies must now prove it closes inequality gaps, it reduces unwarranted variation, it prevents deterioration and it supports delivery of integrated care.

This means shifting from outputs to outcomes. Instead of saying, “We ran 20 webinars on product X,” ask, “How many patients avoided hospital admission as a result of our pathway support?”

2. Build evidence through real world projects

The good news is that many NHS systems are open to co-developing local pilots or proof of concept projects. These can generate the kind of data that proves your impact on patient experience, service access, workforce efficiency and financial sustainability.

But for these projects to work, you need to commit to joint design, shared metrics and transparent evaluation. Handing over a PDF and hoping for formulary inclusion won’t work.

3. Outcome guarantees and shared risk

A growing number of companies are exploring shared risk models, outcome based pricing, service level agreements and population health pilots. These demonstrate seriousness, confidence in the value of your offer and alignment with NHS needs.

Such approaches don’t just open doors, they build trust, and trust is the new currency of partnership in a system driven by accountability and outcomes.

This is an area I am working with more and more within the pharma, medtech and device company retainers and I see it as an excellent route forward for NHS and industry collaboration. I’m confident we will soon have real world evidence of this being implemented.

4. Where this all leads

If pharma, medtech and device companies embrace these three shifts in thinking, align with the NHS’s strategic direction, reframe their brand planning around services and outcomes and prove measurable value, they will not only survive the changing NHS but become central to its success.

On the other hand, companies that remain fixated on product marketing, data sheets and formulary tick boxes may find themselves increasingly excluded from decision making, because the NHS of today is not buying products, it’s buying impact and outcomes.

It’s worth remembering, most companies are still talking about how great their product is. That’s no longer enough. In fact, it’s rapidly becoming irrelevant.

Final thought: How to shift from frustration to progress

This is a pivotal moment for industry engagement with the NHS. With record investment flowing into digital transformation and ICBs shifting decisively toward outcome based commissioning, the ground is moving fast beneath our feet.

The companies that will thrive in this environment are those that speak the language of system impact, bring forward solutions, not just products and co-own outcomes with NHS partners.

The NHS isn’t looking for suppliers, it’s looking for collaborators who can help solve its biggest challenges. To stay embedded, you must evolve with it.

At www.scottmckenzieconsultancy.com, I understand the real-world complexity of NHS access because I’ve lived it. With more than 10 years in the pharmaceutical industry, including as a National Sales Manager and 20+ years working directly inside the NHS, I bring a dual perspective that cuts through the noise.

Through tailored coaching, mentoring and strategy support, I help sales, market access, and key account teams engage the right NHS stakeholders, build value driven propositions and get their solutions embedded into care pathways. I helped clients land 53 new NHS projects in 2023, and a further 28 in 2024. My advice is grounded in lived NHS experience, I know what gets approved, what gets funded, and what gets adopted.

If you’re ready to move from frustration to progress and from product pitch to pathway impact, let’s talk. If you’d like to receive regular industry updates on what’s working in the NHS marketplace right now, you’re welcome to sign up here.