Medilink NOE News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 | Página 2

FOREWORD
Welcome to the latest edition of Medilink North of England News, reflecting the breadth of Medilink’s North of
England membership and the wider Health Sector. In this edition you will see a focus on Covid-19 and beyond,
with perspectives from across the sector to give you greater insight into what it means for your organsiation.
Set against our thematic backdrops, our forewords feature leading figures from across the Northern
economy, involved in driving growth in the Health Sector – in this issue our CEO Kevin Kiely discusses the
effect of Covid-19 and how our sector is playing a key role in fighting it, and creating economic growth beyond
it.
The views of Foreword contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Medilink.
It seems a lifetime since
the news in January
2020 of a mystery
respiratory virus in
China, with the spread of
this virus subsequently
leading the WHO to
declare a Covid-19
global pandemic and the
British Government to
announce its lock down
on 23rd March. Almost
overnight, we all had to adjust to a completely new
way of life: working from home, furloughing, social
distancing, not seeing loved ones, Zoom meetings,
home tutoring etc.
The self-sacrifice of frontline health and care workers,
who have put their lives on the line on a daily basis to
support the sick and save lives has been applauded
(literally on our doorsteps), and so too has been the
dedication of the management teams supporting this
monumental effort. What we have also seen in our daily
news feeds is a glimpse of the extraordinary contribution
being made by our health technology businesses and by
research institutions to preserve life and get us back to
some form of normality.
Member companies have been working around the clock
to produce urgently needed medical devices, whether
this be precision engineered components / sensors
for ventilators, bed head trunking, nurse call systems,
ICU beds/equipment etc. We also have members that
have repurposed their manufacturing facilities to
produce urgently required protective equipment. As
the immediate risk of the NHS being overwhelmed
passed, focus turned to testing and we are proud to
have members that are taking a leading role in the
development of Covid-19 antigen and antibody tests.
Of course, the present crisis has also had a major
detrimental effect on many of our companies, with
the cancellation of elective surgery (not only in the UK
but in countries across the world) hitting suppliers
badly, and the suspension of NHS trials creating real
issues for pre revenue companies with transformative
health technologies, that cannot move forward and
cannot secure investment without the clinical evidence.
Research and development has also been severely
limited in our universities.
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KEVIN KIELY, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, MEDILINK NORTH OF ENGLAND LIMITED
Never before has collaboration been more important
and the Medilink team has been working all out to
enhance connectivity and secure new partnerships.
Initially this took the form of brokerage in the supply
of priority products (collaborating with DIT and Local
Enterprise Partnerships). This developed into facilitating
new partnerships for the development of Covid-19
tests, and throughout the crisis we have been actively
promoting regional success stories and liaising with
key government agencies such as the Office for Life
Sciences which has done an excellent job of galvanising
connectivity at a national level and disseminating up to
date intelligence.
During this horrendous crisis where so many lives
have been lost and our economy destabilised, we are
now beginning to look for positive legacies. Remote
communication is seen as one such legacy both in the
delivery of health and social care and in our daily lives
with more people working from home resulting in less
traffic, less pollution and an improved quality of life.
Another important legacy would be for the current
high levels of collaboration between government
departments, life science businesses, research
institutions and healthcare delivery organisations, to
continue and to become the new norm. Examples of
which could be combined authorities /LEPs working with
local NHS trusts to support the resumption of SME trials
(particularly where the future of the SME could be at
stake) and at a national level, with the NHS liaising with
industry on the resumption of clinical services, as supply
can’t be turned on overnight following major disruption to
company supply chains.
One final legacy which Medilink would champion, is
for UK Government to initiate long term interventions
to support and nurture our indigenous UK Lifescience
industry, recognising from our experience over the last
six months, that we cannot totally rely on international
corporations for the health and security of our nations.
In this issue, we are proud to be able to present some
examples of how our members in the North of England
have made a major contribution to mitigating the worst
effects of the Covid-19 crisis and how we must look to
the future, including how we rapidly internationalise and
secure new markets for our innovations.
WESTMINSTER LOOK NORTH…
COVID-19 AND BEYOND
If someone tapped me on the shoulder and
said it was December 31st, it really would
be no surprise, given the sheer number
of things that have taken place in the first
half of 2020. While the country’s focus
was placed on the next phase of Brexit,
with our sector keenly looking at the
regulatory and trading frameworks it was
set to create, Covid-19 struck and changed
our lives, potentially, forever.
There is great emphasis placed on Covid-19
across this edition of Medilink News, and
the incredible effort our sector has gone to
in protecting frontline staff and ensuring
the NHS can still operate, so I will not
Medilink UK has appointed Mr Kevin Kiely as its first CEO.
Kevin was a co-founder of the Medilink model over
twenty-five years ago, which for the first time brought
together, in a formal regional association, the Health
Technology and related Life Science industry, the NHS and
universities, to drive innovation across the sector. At the same
time, Kevin will retain his position of CEO, Medilink North of
England.
During this time, he has developed a deep understanding and
connectivity with the sector throughout the UK and overseas,
which plays a key role in the health and wealth of the nation.
Kevin is uniquely placed to work with national agencies to
ensure that the needs of the Health Technology and related Life
Sciences sector are fully considered in all future developments
and that opportunities, post Covid-19 and Brexit, are realised.
Bill Cruise, Medilink UK Chairman said, “The strength of
Medilink UK continues to be the in-depth relationships that its
constituent Medilink organisations have in regions across the
UK.
labour the point here.
While this edition of Medilink News rightly
focusses on Covid-19, we cannot ignore
Brexit and the opportunity that a drive from
Westminster to ‘Look North’ affords the
Northern economy, and the stories in these
pages should act as a rallying call to both
our sector and Westminster in helping the
UK prosper post Covid-19 and Brexit.
On January 31st, we officially left the EU but
we are yet to understand what our future
relationship will be with the block, as late
as June the UK formally told the EU it will
not seek a transition period extension,
maintaining the UK will go its own way, if
a deal is not struck by December the 31st
2020.
Within this environment of uncertainty, a
major issue our member companies face
is regulation, including the inexorable
countdown to the implementation of the
new European Medical Device Regulations
or the MDR in May 2021 (extended from
May 2020 due to Covid-19 in April this year).
Medilink was commissioned by Innovate
UK to undertake a national survey on the
preparedness of SMEs for MDR and the
MEDILINK UK APPOINTS
NEW CEO
result was that the majority were very
poorly prepared.
This situation has been exacerbated by the
demise of the Notified Body infrastructure,
there are currently only a small amount
of Notified Bodies across the entirety of
Europe to undertake CE marking audits
under the MDR, with only one of these being
UK based, due to this and at the request
of our Regional Medilink Advisory Groups,
Medilink has also become much more
proactive in the regulatory space.
We have organised events, completed a
national SME readiness survey, and directly
worked with UK Government departments
and ministers in seeking a solution to the
problem. At an operational level we have
also launched ‘Medilink Regulatory’ which
combines our own internal resource with
that of professional regulatory consultants
acting as Medilink Associates, which you
can find detail of in these pages.
Jason Brannan,
PR and Communications Director
Medilink NOE
“However, the sector is facing unprecedented challenges and
opportunities, and it has become clear that Medilink UK needs
to play a more proactive national role if opportunities are
to be maximised. I am therefore delighted to announce the
appointment of Medilink UK’s first national CEO, Kevin Kiely.”
Kevin Kiely said, “Having been involved in the development
of regional Medilink organisations across the UK for over 25
years, and seeing the Medilink UK infrastructure grow to a point
where it is now the largest representative body for the Health
Technology industry, I understand many of the challenges facing
its organisations, not least the demands of Covid-19, Brexit
and the new Medical & IVD regulations. However, I can also
see major opportunities, particularly for international trade, in
rapidly growing markets for health technology products outside
of Europe.
“Support in fast tracking innovation (investment, R&D and
product adoption) and in driving internationalisation, will be
key in 2020, and I look forward to contributing to national
developments that will not only stimulate growth in the Health
Technology sector but also lead to better health outcomes.”
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