Multidisciplinary Assessment of Technology Centre for Healthcare (Match) programme at the University of Ulster is conducting a survey of lab-on-chip point of care device manufacturers
The Multidisciplinary Assessment of Technology Centre for Healthcare (Match) programme is a five-year collaboration between the universities of Birmingham, Brunel, Nottingham, King's College London and Ulster together with a cohort of industrial partners, funded by the EPSRC/DTI and InvestNI.
The Match programme aims to support the healthcare technology sector and its user communities by creating methods to assess value from concept through to mature product and by engaging with regulatory bodies at home and abroad.
Much of the research of Match concerns the health technology assessment of medical devices and health technologies to determine their value and benefits to improving healthcare delivery.
This involves aspects of health economic modelling, cost effectiveness analysis and user perspective studies and is aimed at developing methods to shorten the time and costs from concept to continuous improvement in the market, in support of device users, the medical device industry, regulators and reimbursement agencies and healthcare providers such as the UK National Health Service (NHS).
The Match research hub at the University of Ulster, led by Professor Brian Meenan, has a particular interest in assessment methods for evaluating the impact of new and emerging health technologies within the healthcare system.
This aims to provide methods to assess the early stage value of new and emerging healthcare technologies via the use of exemplar case studies that will map the possible patient pathways for these technologies.
An area of interest to the Match group at the University of Ulster is new and emerging technologies and how they will impact on overall healthcare delivery.
This is to be exemplified by point of care (PoC) or near patient testing technology.
Point of care may be defined as: 'Analytical testing performed outside the central pathology laboratory using a device or devices that can be easily transported to the vicinity of the patient'.
An element of Match programme research is in value procurement in the NHS.
This is concerned with the development of a model for medical device procurement on the basis of value rather than price within the NHS.
In order to assess the present status of lab-on-chip technologies for critical care diagnosis Match is currently carrying out an industrial survey of and manufacturers and suppliers of point of care devices to determine the range of lab-on-chip devices available and those in development, their relative merits and the value of point of care testing within the overall delivery of healthcare.
The present survey relates to lab-on-chip point of care technologies used in assessing patient presenting with chest pain and other cardiac related illnesses by measuring cardiac markers such as CK-MB, Troponin I myoglobin, D-Dimer and B-type Natriuretic peptide together with other indicators for acute myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure and stroke.
The survey requests information on the cardiac point of care devices, and lab-on-chip diagnostic tests which manufacturers have either currently developed or will be developed and available in the UK.
Additional cardiac point of care products can be added to the survey via an online questionnaire.
The information will be used in a peer reviewed publication to assess the current status of the cardiac lab-on-chip point of care sector.
Copies of this publication and survey will be available to all industrial participants via the Match website.
