INSIA Newsletter

Dear member,

On this page you will find upcoming newsletters for INSIA. You will receive an e-mail when the newsletters are avaiable on the website.

February 2025

SBU

At the end of 2024, a paper was published describing the transition of assessing health technologies to assessing social interventions at SBU in Sweden. In 2015, the Swedish HTA agency SBU was also tasked to assess interventions in a new field; the social one. Five years later, this paper describes and reflects on this journey and the actions taken.
Read the article: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-technology-assessment-in-health-care/article/transition-of-assessing-health-technologies-to-social-interventions-in-sweden/E50EB83100433599D138D0D3F9B78A8E)

In 2023, SBU published an evaluation of psychosocial interventions aimed at preventing gang-related crime among young people. This SBU report has now been published in the journal Research on Social Work Practice and is available open access for anyone interested in accessing our findings. Read the article: Psychosocial Interventions Preventing Gang-Related Crime Among Young People: A Systematic Review

Other news:

Sweden has decided on a national strategy in the field of mental health and suicide prevention, emphasizing the importance of cross-sectoral collaboration and highlighting early and preventive interventions as a clear priority. SBU therefore sees an opportunity to contribute with knowledge on how social interventions and social work can promote mental well-being and reduce suicide rates in society.

The Swedish Government has proposed a new social service law, where “science and proven experience” is suggested to constitute the basis for the work within the social services in Sweden. To support the social services adjustment towards a more knowledge-based social service, a project is taking place at SBU where a digital educational material approaching science, is put together. Previously, SBU has produced pedagogical material about understanding treatment effects within the health care services. This current project has the aim to highlight ways of thinking critically about intervention effects and adapt examples of scientific claims to the context of the social services in Sweden.


HAS

Latest publications:

Best practice guidelines and guides for health and social care professionals

In French only

In French but a synthesis in English is available

Improving health and social care for people experiencing homelessness and living with mental health disorders – 10 key messages – Synthesis guidelines

Other news

HAS is gearing up to understand/implement generative AI systems, identify the risks and gradually reap the benefits.

Upcoming publication

HAS 2025-2030 strategic plan


Health Technology Wales (HTW)

Health Technology Wales (HTW) is pleased to announce the publication of its 2023/24 Adoption Audit Report.

This year HTW audited 11 pieces of HTW guidance and three pieces of NICE Medical Technologies Evaluation (MTEP) guidance.

The audit achieved the best response rate to date and revealed high levels of awareness of HTW guidance. Meanwhile, nearly all audit responses received indicated that HTW and NICE MTEP guidance recommendations were clear.

There were partial responses to the audit from two of the seven health boards and full responses from four other health boards, NHS Wales Joint Commissioning Committee (NWJCC – formerly Welsh Health Specialised Services Committee), Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust (WAST) and Velindre University NHS Trust.

Key findings from the adoption audit include the following:

  • Responses from organisations where the guidance was relevant indicate that awareness of the guidance is high (79%), clarity of guidance recommendations is very good (96%), and guidance is having an impact in the majority of cases (72%). These figures are consistent with, or an improvement on last year’s audit.
  • While the clarity of the guidance was reported as high, there were some instances where organisations did not fully understand the remit of HTW guidance. There were comments around the lack of information on where funding and extra resources would come from, and questions around implementation of the technology, which is not within the remit of HTW guidance.
  • Generally, HTW guidance that recommends routine adoption of a technology was adhered to. Though there were a few examples where organisations had not adhered to the recommendation or were unsure if they would.
  • For HTW guidance that “partially supports” routine adoption, organisations generally either did not feel the guidance was sufficient to change commissioning policy or clinical practice, or were unsure.
  • All three pieces of NICE guidance audited recommended the use of a technology. The impact on decision-making of the three pieces of guidance was variable, ranging from no impact to major impact.

Judith Paget, Director General for Health and Social Services and NHS Wales Chief Executive, said:

HTW plays an important role in helping to ensure that the most effective and cost-effective health technologies are available to the people of Wales.  This report clearly demonstrates the significant impact HTW’s guidance is having within our healthcare sector. It is also really pleasing to hear that this audit achieved the highest response rate so far, which demonstrates the continuous improvements being made to the HTW adoption audit process.”

Susan Myles, Director of Health Technology Wales, said:

Our latest adoption report shows just how much of an impact our guidance is having across Wales. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our partners for their continued support of our work and their valuable contributions to the adoption audit.”

Following the completion of the audit, HTW has concluded that it should continue to engage closely with local health boards and specialised trusts to maximise adoption audit returns and also consider how the process can be extended to other commissioners.

HTW will also review the adoption audit questions with a view to providing more detailed guidance notes and ensuring questions are as clear as possible. In future, adoption audit respondents should only have to answer appropriate questions depending on the relevance of the guidance to their organisation.

To read the HTW 2023/24 Adoption Audit Report in full click here.


Invitation to INSIA Members to join the membership meeting committee

The INSIA Membership Meeting will take place in Paris, France, on the 14-15th of October 2025 and the planning of the Membership Meeting is about to start.

If you are interested in joining the membership meeting committee, please sign up by sending an e-mail to the INSIA Secretariat at insia@sbu.se by February 17th. The committee is led by Rigmor Berg (Board Chair) and Board Director Angélique Khaled, but 2-3 members are needed.

We also want your input regarding the theme for the Membership Meeting. Please send your suggestions to the Secretariat at insia@sbu.se by February 17th.

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