Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency plans to open its Early Access Service for innovative technologies in areas of unmet clinical need.

In July of this year the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency published a statement of policy intent for the development and implementation of an Early Access Service for innovative medical devices. This statement is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statement-of-policy-intent-early-access-to-innovative-medical-devices/statement-of-policy-intent-early-access-to-innovative-medical-devices#next-steps

The service aims to speed up safe access to innovative medical devices for patients, supporting the Government’s Life Sciences Sector Plan. The statement set out our intention to work with stakeholders across the life science ecosystem to further develop the policy and to build the internal capability required to deliver the service throughout 2025. Further information on our plans will be provided in early 2026.