South East England Development Agency (SEEDA)

Health Minister, Lord Warner Impressed by South East England
Medical Devices Companies at MEDICA 2004

13 December 2004

Lord Warner visits the South East England Stand during a visit to Medica 2004

South East England medical device companies on the South East England Stand at Medica 2004 were on hand last week to meet Lord Warner, Under Secretary of State for the Department of Health and co-chair of the Healthcare Industries Task Force (HITF). The companies were exhibiting at the Düsseldorf-based event on the 110m² South East England Stand organised by the regional trade organisation Southern Medical Alliance (SMa), with support from the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) and UK Trade & Investment.

The sale of medical devices in the UK is estimated at £4 billion with the largest concentration of companies (around 600) located in South East England. Lord Warner visited the South East England Stand and visited the six exhibiting companies. Taking space on the Stand were - DiagnOx, Oxford; Synerception, Winchester; Sira Technology Ltd, Kent; ScanTrack Healthcare, Reading; Pharmabotics Ltd, Winchester and Link-Sure Ltd, Guildford.

Lord Warner meets Anthony Rollason from Pharmabotics Ltd. The company was promoting its range medical training simulators to an international market at Medica 2004, Düsseldorf

Lord Warner's visit coincided with the recent publication of the HITF Report. It was published by the Department of Health in November and recognises the importance of the healthcare sector within the UK. The Report - Better health through partnership: A programme for action - provides a programme of action aimed at benefiting patients and the NHS and stimulating science and industry in the UK to improve growth in manufacturing, investment, employment and exports. It highlights various issues including – Innovation, better co-ordination of the new NHS Innovation Hubs (two of which are based in the South East – Canterbury and Royal Holloway), building R&D capacity, maximising the UK's role as a regulatory lead both for the EU and internationally, and export strategy and international trade. For a copy of the report go to http://www.dh.gov.uk/Publications or www.abhi.org.uk

UK Trade & Investment International Healthcare Adviser, Mitzi Swanson, commenting on the importance of the sector said: "Many of the small and medium sized companies who I help, are high- tech, innovative and extremely viable for the international market. The sector contributes to the traditional strengths in South East England of high-tech engineering and manufacturing and will continue to be a strong sector for the UK."

SMa, who organised the South East England Stand in order to profile some of its member companies, has recently launched a membership drive to formalise the structure and enhance the service it offer. In addition to gaining access to the searchable database, members also receive a regular newsletter, enjoy reduced rates at SMa networking events and gain automatic membership of the Medical Devices Faraday Partnership. The membership is £295 + VAT per year, for more information go to www.southernmedical.co.uk