Evaluating Healthcare Innovation

Health Economic Evaluation of Medicines in Scotland

The Scottish Medicines Consortium is the national source of advice on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of all new medicines for NHSScotland. With the aim of ensuring that people in Scotland have timely access to medicines that provide most benefit based on best available evidence, the SMC’s New Drugs Committee (NDC) is composed of clinicians, pharmacists and pharmaceutical industry representatives. It meets monthly to assess the clinical and economic evidence presented by companies for each new medicine and this evidence is supplemented by testimonies from our network of clinical experts across NHSScotland.

For medicines for end of life and rare conditions, the Patient and Clinician Engagement (PACE) process gives patient groups and clinicians a stronger voice in SMC decision making. Find out more about the PACE initiative and guidance for submission here.

Evaluating the use of Health Technologies

The Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG), one of Scotland’s Health Technology Agencies, provide evidence support and advice to NHSScotland on the use of new and existing health technologies which are not medicines and which are likely to have significant implications for people’s care.  The SHTG advisory council is made up of representatives from NHS boards, clinical and professional networks, academia, National Procurement and Scottish Government.  The SHTG conducts independent reviews with the aim of enhancing health and social care provision across Scotland.  Find out more here.