Luella Trickett, executive director of medical devices, value & access at the Association of British HealthTech Industries (ABHI) outlines how genuine engagement, stronger category management and a shift to value-based procurement can help the system adopt innovation at pace and deliver long-term benefit for patients and the public purse

Procurement of HealthTech has never been more strategically important to the future of health and care in the UK. As the NHS continues to navigate pressures around productivity, workforce constraints and rising demand, the role of HealthTech in enabling safe, efficient and effective care is increasingly clear. Yet the system’s ability to adopt these technologies at pace depends heavily on the quality of its procurement processes. With sustainability requirements intensifying, and expectations around social value growing, 2026 offers an opportunity to embed procurement practices that truly unlock value for patients and the public purse. This article outlines what good looks like, and how the principles of value, partnership and proportionality can support the NHS in making decisions that deliver long-term benefit.

Genuine pre-market engagement: the foundation of good procurement
If there is one area where improvement would deliver immediate benefit, it is in strengthening pre-market engagement. Too often, suppliers are invited into engagements that feel more like a formality than a genuine attempt to understand what the market can offer. Superficial engagement leads to poorly specified tenders, missed opportunities for innovation and an environment where suppliers cannot meaningfully contribute to shaping the solution.

Effective engagement is fundamentally about intent. It requires procurement teams to be open about their goals, constraints and desired outcomes, and for suppliers to bring forward evidence, insights and new possibilities. When done well, it sharpens specifications, reduces risk, and ensures that the resulting competition is fair, transparent and aligned with clinical need. It also enables buyers to understand what is realistically deliverable. 

Pre-market engagement is also essential for shaping social value requirements. The NHS frequently sets ambitious social value goals, but without early dialogue, suppliers cannot meaningfully plan or cost their contributions. This not only limits the impact of social value activity but risks excluding SMEs that lack the resource to respond to overly burdensome or unclear criteria. Genuine engagement ensures social value expectations are proportionate, deliverable and aligned with the realities of the market.

Category management and clinical engagement: aligning procurement with real need
Strong category management is another hallmark of effective procurement practice. While some regions demonstrate real excellence in this area, performance is inconsistent nationally. Good category management provides clarity, standardisation and efficiency, ensuring that buyers understand the market, the evidence base, and the clinical context for each category of product.

Clinical engagement is central to this. Procurement colleagues cannot determine value without direct insight from those delivering care. Specifications that overlook clinical nuance risk compromising patient outcomes or embedding inefficiencies. Where procurement teams, clinicians and suppliers collaborate, tenders become better targeted, more realistic and more capable of driving quality improvement.

Value-based procurement: moving from products to pathways
A central theme of good procurement in 2026 is a shift towards value-based procurement (VBP). Traditional approaches that focus primarily on unit price miss the wider benefits that the right technology can deliver across a patient pathway. True VBP accounts for clinical effectiveness, patient experience, operational efficiency, sustainability and long-term health outcomes.

A simple example illustrates the point. Optimising surgical instrument trays (ensuring clinicians have the right tools, in the right configuration) may cost more upfront but delivers significant value through reduced delays, safer procedures and improved theatre productivity. 

The optimal future state is one where VBP is applied across entire patient pathways, rather than isolated products or services. This means considering the full journey, for example, the whole surgical experience from pre-operative preparation, through theatre and post-operative care, to recovery at home. Evaluating value at this level supports sustainability by reducing waste, lowering energy use and cutting unnecessary variation across the system. It also aligns procurement decisions with broader NHS priorities around earlier diagnosis, elective recovery and the delivery of more personalised and preventative care.

Recognising the true cost of doing business
One of the single biggest factors affecting HealthTech business growth in the UK is the rising cost of doing business. Energy costs, labour costs and broader operational pressures are all increasing, alongside ongoing regulatory expenses and global cost pressures linked to materials and logistics.

The challenge is that NHS procurement processes are often reluctant to accept inflationary price increases from suppliers, even when these increases reflect genuine, unavoidable cost pressures. Over time, this can threaten the sustainability of supply, discourage investment and limit the UK’s competitiveness as a market for innovation.

VBP offers a practical route through this. By evaluating outcomes rather than inputs, VBP enables a more mature conversation about price. It recognises that the lowest cost is not always the most efficient choice, and that sustainable supply chains depend on fair pricing that reflects economic reality. Embedding this principle across the NHS would support both innovation and resilience.

Social value and sustainability: ambition delivered through proportionate practice
Social value is now a core requirement for all public sector procurement, with the UK Government mandating a minimum 10 per cent weighting. Yet interpretation varies widely across the NHS. Some organisations have developed sophisticated frameworks, while others apply generic or overly localised requirements that are not always relevant to HealthTech or proportionate to the scale of the tender.

A particular challenge stems from the national nature of NHS procurement. Unlike sectors with strong local footprints, for example, the Ministry of Defence presence in North Bristol, HealthTech suppliers typically support customers across the entire country. Hyper-local social value commitments can therefore be difficult to deliver meaningfully. Many suppliers have strong corporate social responsibility programmes, but translating these into tangible benefits for NHS procurement requires clearer guidance and greater flexibility.

The same principle applies to sustainability. HealthTech companies are investing heavily to support NHS Net Zero goals, but the way requirements are framed can either accelerate progress or create unintended barriers. Unrealistic carbon reporting expectations or requests for granular product-level data can disadvantage suppliers, particularly SMEs, without delivering meaningful environmental benefit.

A proportionate approach is essential. Early engagement enables buyers to set realistic, outcome-focused expectations for both social value and sustainability, aligned with the reality of national supply chains. 

Building best practice for 2026
To support a procurement system that delivers value, fairness and improved outcomes, several principles should guide NHS buyers. This includes conducting genuine pre-market engagement to shape realistic, shared expectations; strengthening category management and ensure robust clinical engagement; and apply value-based procurement across whole care pathways. It also includes recognising that fair pricing supports sustainable supply chains and long-term value and adopting proportionate, outcome-focused social value and sustainability criteria.

Conclusion: procurement as a strategic lever for better care
HealthTech plays a vital role in supporting the NHS to deliver high-quality, sustainable and efficient care. Getting procurement right is central to enabling the adoption of innovation that benefits patients, clinicians and the wider system. By embedding value, partnership and proportionality into procurement practice, the NHS can create a more consistent and impactful approach nationwide. ABHI remains committed to supporting buyers and suppliers in achieving this vision, ensuring that the UK continues to benefit from a vibrant, innovative and globally competitive HealthTech sector.