Med Tech-related health technology assessments in Wales in March-April 2026

Health Technology Wales (HTW) is a national body working to improve the quality of care in Wales. It is funded by the Welsh Government and hosted within NHS Wales, but is independent of both. HTW covers medical devices, diagnostics, procedures, psychological therapies, models of care, and social care support, excluding pharmaceuticals.

HTW uses a staged process of assessment by developing three types of documents. The topic exploration report (TER) aimed to assess whether there is enough evidence to proceed with a full appraisal and whether the topic meets the appraisal selection criteria. Based on the TER conclusions, HTW's Assessment Group decides whether to progress this topic further. If yes, the following two documents can be developed: Evidence Appraisal Report (EAR) and Guidance (GUI). Recommendations are not mandatory; the status of HTW guidance is "adopt or justify," meaning that the local health board and other relevant bodies are expected to report on how they have considered the appraisal and guidance. If they have chosen not to adopt HTW guidance, they are asked to outline their rationale and justify their decision.

In March-April 2026, HTW accomplished two full appraisals:

• HTW concluded that more evidence is needed on salvage high-dose-rate brachytherapy (HDR-BT) for recurrent prostate cancer after prior radiotherapy. Current evidence on its clinical effectiveness is limited, particularly compared with alternatives such as salvage prostatectomy or stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR). Because of the lack of robust data, HTW could not determine the cost-effectiveness of the procedure. Access to salvage HDR-BT should continue through the Individual Patient Funding Requests (IPFR) process, with an emphasis on collecting patient-reported outcomes and survival data to strengthen the evidence base.
• More evidence is needed on artificial intelligence-assisted ultrasound (ThinkSono Guidance by ThinkSono) for detecting and diagnosing deep vein thrombosis. The available evidence suggests the technology may have worse diagnostic accuracy than usual care. In addition, cost-effectiveness is uncertain because the device price has not been finalized, and the economic model is highly sensitive to assumptions and input data.

In addition, two TERs were published in the E-health and Pulmonology fields, for which HTW's Assessment Group decided not to proceed with the full appraisal. 

See the full details here.

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