Decision to list medical devices supplied by Universal Specialities Limited

What we’re doing

We are pleased to announce the approval of a listing agreement with Universal Specialities Limited (“USL”) for the supply of:

• Infusion equipment and associated devices (infusion devices)
• Non-dedicated and consumable infusion devices (infusion devices)
• Point of care testing equipment (POCT)

In summary this will result in:

• A range of medical devices from USL being listed in Part III of Section H of the Pharmaceutical Schedule from 1 May 2022 under a national agreement that all DHBs may purchase under (“Agreement”); and
• DHBs being able to continue to purchase other suppliers’ brands of the medical devices as the Agreement is not for sole supply.

Any changes to the original proposal?

This decision was subject to a consultation letter dated 15 February 2022.

No changes have been made to the proposal following consultation.

Who we think will be most interested

• DHB staff including but not limited to:
  • Anaesthetists
  • Clinical Engineers and maintenance services
  • Clinical Product Evaluators
  • Clinicians
  • ICU, emergency, and critical care staff
  • Infection control staff
  • General medical ward staff
  • Laboratory staff
  • Nurses
  • Nursing assistants
  • Oncologists
  • Perioperative staff
  • Point of Care Testing coordinators
  • Point of Care specialists
  • Surgeons
  • Procurement Officers and supply chain personnel
• Suppliers and wholesalers

Details about this decision

Pharmac has previously issued Request for Proposals (“RFPs”) for:

• supply of infusion devices (including non-dedicated and consumable infusion devices and infusion equipment and associated devices)

In 2021 Pharmac issued a Registration of Interest (“ROI”) for:

• supply of point of care testing equipment and consumables

The RFP and ROI were for non-exclusive national agreements for listing on the Pharmaceutical Schedule.

In coordination with Pharmac, NZ Health Partnerships (“NZHP”) has previously released a Requests for Proposals (“RFP”) for ranges of medical devices which Pharmac may list on the Pharmaceutical Schedule. NZHP released an RFP for point of care testing equipment and consumables (POCT) in September 2018. In April 2021 Pharmac released a Registration of Interest for the supply of medical devices where NZHP has previously released an RFP process as an opportunity for suppliers to have POCT equipment and consumables considered for listing on the Pharmaceutical Schedule.

Pharmac has been working with suppliers to seek provisional agreements and this is the latest decision to arise from these processes.

DHBs can continue to choose which infusion devices and POCT equipment they purchase, including those from other suppliers. DHBs that purchase infusion devices and POCT equipment from USL must do so under the terms and conditions, including pricing, outlined in the Pharmac Agreement from 1 May 2022.

The agreement includes terms and conditions for training and education to be provided by USL on the appropriate use of its medical devices, which is to be provided at times and in formats as agreed with individual DHBs.

The list of products will be available on Pharmac’s website from 1 May 2022, in both PDF and Excel spreadsheet formats.

Our response to what you told us

We appreciate the time people took to respond to this consultation.

All consultation responses received by the closing dates were considered in their entirety in making the decision to list medical devices supplied by USL.

A summary of the main themes raised in feedback and our responses to the feedback are set out below:

If you have any questions about this decision, you can email us at enquiry@pharmac.govt.nz; or call our toll free number (9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday) on 0800 66 00 50.