• How can manufacturers maximise sales in a climate of constrained public expenditure?

• What sectors of the medical equipment market are expected to provide the best growth prospects?

• How will impending regulatory changes in the EU impact manufacturers of medical equipment?

• How can manufacturers best respond to the threat from new market entrants from the technology sector?

For the purposes of this report, medical equipment is defined as appliances and instruments used for medical, surgical, dental or veterinary purposes. Data on medical supplies is also included in the report, which are predominantly disposable, single-use, high consumption items used in performing medical procedures. The following segmentation, used in this report, is based on available government data.

The medical equipment sector includes the following:

• X-ray equipment. This group includes apparatus based on the use of X-rays and apparatus based on the use of alpha, beta or gamma radiations, both including radiography and radiotherapy apparatus. Also included are X-ray tubes and X-ray, high tension and magnetic resonance generators, control panels and desks, screens and specialised furniture for X-ray work.

• Electro-medical equipment. This group of appliances consists of electrocardiographs and other electro-diagnostic apparatus, including apparatus for functional exploratory examination or for checking physiological parameters, scintigraphic, ultrasonic scanning and magnetic resonance imaging apparatus. Also included are ultraviolet or infrared apparatus used in medical, surgical or veterinary sciences.

• Sterilizers for medical, surgical or laboratory use.

• Syringes and needles. This group consists of syringes, with or without needles, tubular metal needles, needles for sutures and needles, catheters and cannulas used in medical, surgical, dental or veterinary sciences.

• Therapy appliances, including mechano-therapy appliances, massage apparatus and psychological aptitude-testing apparatus, as well as ozone therapy, oxygen therapy, aerosol therapy, artificial respiration or other therapeutic respiration apparatus, including appliances used instead of manual methods of artificial respiration, oxygen therapy appliances proper, iron lungs and similar equipment. Also included in this group are breathing appliances and gas masks, such as anti-radiation or anti-contamination protective suits incorporating breathing apparatus.

• Orthopaedic equipment. This group includes artificial joints as well as orthopaedic and other fracture appliances, such as made-to-measure footwear. Also included are artificial teeth, crowns or bridges (made from plastics, metal or porcelain), including metal posts for fixing crowns and crowns fitted with metal posts and other dental fittings, such as dentures and part dentures, metal crowns, cast tin and stainless steel bars, as well as orthodontics fittings, gum-shields and bite raising appliances. This group also includes artificial limbs, eyes and other parts of the body, such as tubes of synthetic fabric for replacing blood vessels and heart valves, hearing aids, heart pacemakers, speech aids, electronic blind aids, implants to support or replace the chemical function of organs, colostomy products and other appliances, which are worn or carried or implanted in the body to compensate for a defect or disability.

• Furniture, including dentists’ chairs and other medical, surgical or veterinary furniture as well as wheelchairs.

• Other equipment. This group includes instruments and appliances for measuring blood-pressure (such as sphygmomanometers, tensiometers and oscillometers), endoscopes, renal dialysis equipment, diathermic apparatus (including ultrasonic), transfusion apparatus, anaesthetic apparatus and instruments, ultrasonic lithotripsy instruments and scintigraphic apparatus. Also included are ophthalmic instruments and appliances, such as corneal trephines, keratomes, ophthalmoscopes, orthoptic or sight-testing apparatus, electrically heated compresses and electro-magnets. Furthermore, this group includes dental drill engines, whether or not combined on a single base with other dental equipment, as well as instruments and appliances used in dental sciences.

Data for parts and accessories for medical equipment are included in the appropriate categories. The sterilizers sector includes equipment also destined for laboratory use.

The medical supplies sector includes the following:

• Dressings, including adhesive dressings or similar articles and non-adhesive dressings, such as wadding, gauze, bandages and dressings, both impregnated or coated with pharmaceutical substances.

• Sutures, consisting of sterile surgical catgut, similar suture materials and tissue adhesives for surgical wound closure, laminaria and laminaria tents, as well as absorbable, surgical or dental haemostatics.

• Other supplies. This group includes blood-grouping reagents, opacifying preparations for X-ray examinations and diagnostic reagents designed to be administered to the patient. Also included are dental cements and other dental fillings and bone reconstruction cements, first-aid boxes and kits and contact lenses.

All of the values quoted in this report are at current prices unless otherwise specified.

The term billion refers to a thousand million.

Figures exclude VAT unless otherwise stated.

Some numbers in tables do not add exactly due to rounding.

Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.

Reports are researched and written by MBD’s in-house, specialist business-to-business consultants. Research is based on both an analysis of official information and on original, trade research, providing both a quantitative and qualitative view of the market. MBD’s unique range of frequently updated reports provide an integrated body of ongoing research, enabling deep understanding of the prevailing trends and of the drivers of these trends based on trade opinion.

The following abbreviations appear in this report:

The UK market for medical equipment and supplies has advanced alongside the expansion and development of medical research, with the marketplace tending to comprise industries with high levels of technology-driven development. The medical equipment industry is highly driven by rapid technological progress, with the largest companies investing significantly in research and development.

Both medical equipment and medical supplies are used in a range of healthcare settings, but public healthcare tends to dominate purchasing in the UK. Due to the high level of regulation in healthcare industries, equipment manufacturers have become increasingly conscious of quality control in their production processes, as well as product performance, accuracy and safety.

The UK medical equipment industry is comprised of both large international manufacturing operations, with subsidiary businesses in the UK, such as Smith & Nephew and Johnson & Johnson, and smaller specialist operators. The structure of the industry is fragmented and the growth of start-up businesses in the med-tech sector has contributed to this.

Mutual recognition and the harmonisation of standards in Europe opened up the UK market to foreign producers, as well as providing opportunities for UK suppliers abroad. The Medical Devices Directive enacted by the EU to provide a harmonised regulatory environment for medical devices within the European Economic Area was introduced in 1993 and subsequently amended in 2001.

The Medical Devices Regulations 2002, adopted in the UK, require all products that fall in the directive’s scope to meet certain safety and administrative requirements, and be CE marked if compliant. These products can then be freely sold throughout the EU without additional national regulations being applied.

In April 2003, the Medical Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) was established. The agency is responsible for ensuring that medicines and medical devices work and are acceptably safe. It is particularly important internationally as MHRA process a high percentage of the European regulatory workload.

The MHRA has the power to withdraw a product from the market and suspend production of medicines. The MHRA also works closely with the European regulator and other international regulators involved in healthcare.