The UK's Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has published its "Design for Life" roadmap towards a circular approach to medtech by 2045.

Overview

A strategic collaboration with input from over 80 stakeholders, the Design for Life programme is intended to transition the UK medtech sector away from avoidable single use products and towards a functioning circular economy. 

Circularity in medtech aims to maintain products and materials at their highest value for as long as possible, through designing, procuring and processing them in ways that enable them to be reused, re-manufactured or recycled. 

Objectives

The roadmap is divided into 6 "problem statements", comprising fundamental challenges to circularity in UK medtech: 

1. misaligned leadership & strategies;
2. linear products are the default choice;
3. insufficient commercial incentivisation;
4. a regulatory landscape that predates circularity;
5. inadequate physical or digital infrastructure; and
6. the innovation ecosystem is not tailored to circular objectives.

Through addressing these obstacles, the roadmap seeks to: 1) boost UK growth in decontamination and materials recovery; 2) improve NHS resilience by reducing reliance on oversea supply chains; 3) decrease waste and emissions; and 4) generate substantial long-term cost savings. 

Actions and Practical Implications

To achieve the DHSC's 2045 goal, the roadmap proposes a non-exhaustive list of 30 actions. These actions are grouped into either high, medium or low maturity bands based on the indicative timescale by which they could be achieved. 

Key actions arising from the "problem statements" include the following:

1. Leadership & strategies – KPIs and Standardised Metrics

A key priority is to establish clear KPIs and standardised metrics to monitor the sector's transition towards circularity. The KPIs will establish a minimum standard of performance and encourage more resilient practices. 

2. Defaulting to linear – Training and Skills Framework

The roadmap emphasises the need for a fundamental cultural shift away from the existing linear product model. Providing stakeholders with clear information and training on the benefits of circularity is key to overcoming this challenge. The roadmap proposes introducing a training and skills framework in collaboration with institutes such as the royal colleges. This would operate alongside a support framework, which would act as a central hub for queries and assistance and will be further supplemented by accessible guidance to inform patients about how a circular model can support them. 

3. Commercial Incentivisation – Value-Based Procurement

Stakeholders currently lack sufficient financial incentives to transition to a circular system, with medtech buyers incentivised to adopt single-use products due to budget constraints and perceived short-term cost savings. To tackle this challenge, the roadmap encourages a value-based procurement model focusing on the commercial benefits of circularity, such as increased resilience, extended project lifespans and long-term cost savings. Design for Life also proposes a stakeholder feedback loop to gather responses on the effectiveness of commercial incentives introduced.

4. Landscape – Aligning with Global Counterparts

Medtech regulations largely predate circularity, which has resulted in compliance uncertainties and a regulatory environment not designed to address specific sustainable practices. This uncertainty has been exacerbated by a lack of international consensus regarding regulations and standards. 

The UK will look to partner with global medtech leaders to submit joint proposals to global fora for research and pilot schemes. On a domestic level, the roadmap recommends the formation of committees to review existing standards of medtech policy and, where required, create new standards to support circular medtech. Design for Life are also planning to launch a UK survey of perceived regulatory barriers to highlight the key areas in need of reform. 

5. Infrastructure – Modelling Future Demand

Existing infrastructure limits the scalability of circular solutions by failing to accommodate the demands of practices like decontamination, recycling and remanufacturing. To upscale infrastructural output, the DHSC proposes introducing a decontamination infrastructure framework and a materials recovery and recycling framework. The decontamination framework will define best practice for establishing and operating decontamination facilities, whilst the materials recovery and recycling framework will standardise processes and help broker asset owners with purchasers.

6. Innovation – Medtech Innovation Centre

The current innovation ecosystem does not align with circularity objectives. This reduces knowledge sharing and risks inadvertently promoting unsustainable practices. To encourage greater collaboration and innovation, Design for Life propose establishing a dedicated medtech innovation centre to accelerate breakthroughs in circular economy innovation.

Next Steps

The publication of the roadmap signifies the end of the design phase of the programme. DHSC will now work with stakeholders to accelerate the development and delivery of the programme. A copy of the full Design for Life Roadmap can be found here.