MedTech Funding Mandate: Accelerating uptake
Supporting NHS systems and providers to adopt and fund medical technologies
in 2025-26
Informing consideration of AposHealth adoption in the South West
Conversation facilitation, stakeholder engagement and knowledge sharing
Influencing national policy through regional learning
The challenge
Many proven, cost-saving medical technologies are not consistently reaching NHS patients quickly due to local adoption and funding challenges.
The solution
The MedTech Funding Mandate (MTFM) policy launched in 2021, to ensure that patients and the NHS benefit from faster access to proven, cost-effective medical technologies.
Innovative, minimally invasive day-case procedures—such as UroLift, Rezum, GreenLight XPS, PLASMA, and XprESS—are particularly impactful in rural and coastal NHS services, where travel distances, limited surgical capacity, and inpatient pressures challenge both patients and staff. These interventions reduce hospital stays, enable faster recovery, and often require only telephone follow-up, improving access and efficiency.
Technologies like Thopaz+ and AposHealth further support early discharge, remote care, and mobility, while solutions like Spectra Optia expand equitable access to specialised treatments locally. Collectively, these innovations ease workforce strain, reduce travel burdens, and improve outcomes in resource-limited settings.
From 2021/22 until 2023/24, the technologies selected for adoption fell into two categories: ‘benign prostatic hyperplasia’ and ‘improving the patient experience during procedures’.
The first new technology that was selected for support in 2024/25 was AposHealth, a non-invasive device worn on the feet to reduce pain and improve function in patients with knee osteoarthritis.
AposHealth was the only product on the MTFM 2025-26 mandate.
Our work in partnership
Health Innovation South West plays a pivotal role in bringing the MTFM policy to life – acting as the regional connector in the South West to drive collaboration between suppliers, providers and commissioners, to unlock system barriers, and to accelerate adoption.
We provide guidance on translating national policy into local strategies, and support business case development and procurement for commissioners. We engage with local NHS trusts to assess feasibility and readiness for adoption, provide funding guidance, facilitate clinical engagement, and offer implementation support.
In 2025-26 we held informative conversations with five NHS trusts in the South West about the suitability of AposHealth for their trust. We supported the trusts with adoption and implementation considerations and decisions.
We supported AposHealth suppliers through stakeholder engagement, knowledge sharing with other local health innovation networks, and facilitating conversations between commissioners, clinicians and the supplier.
Our involvement has also included feeding back regional challenges to the national Health Innovation Network’s product lead to influence strategy.
Our impact
- Commissioners at Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust and Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust are interested in AposHealth and are in conversations with the supplier and/or NHS Supply Chain.
- Clinicians at Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust and at Somerset Foundation NHS Trust have made the decision not to adopt AposHealth at this time.
What’s next?
Learn more
For further information, please contact Health Innovation South West Project Manager, Libby Dawe.
