The UK healthcare organizations will have to invest around £294m between 2013 and 2015 to replace outdated diagnostic equipment alone, says study.
Demand for healthcare services and expectations of healthcare quality are rising across the world, because of legislative reform, demographic change and rising prosperity.
To cope with this rising demand as efficiently and effectively as possible, access to up-to-date medical technology is required, with a particular focus on diagnostic imaging which plays a crucial role in early and accurate diagnosis without invasive investigative procedures.
However, this in turn is putting considerable financial strain on the European healthcare systems where a proportion of medical equipment is currently out-of-date and needs to be urgently replaced.
According to latest study from Siemens Financial Services, the capital expenditure required for these essential replacements for Spain and France is higher compared to the UK, totaling £368m and £373m respectively.
Siemens Financial Services general manager UK David Martin noted up-to-date medical equipment plays a crucial role in the provision of quality healthcare services and improvement of health outcomes.
"Asset finance allows healthcare organizations to spread the cost of equipment over its useful lifetime.
"Such financing arrangements often cover not only the equipment acquisition cost, but also maintenance, service and sometimes consumables.
"Their growing popularity with healthcare providers around the world indicates the usefulness of being able to align payments with benefits gained," Martin added.
It is imperative for the healthcare providers to urgently replace the backlog of outdated medical imaging equipment in order to provide efficient and effective healthcare.
The cost of replacing diagnostic equipment over 10 years old between 2013 and 2015 was calculated through a conservative estimate model based on a wide range of proprietary and third-party data on future medical device market statistics as well as official studies on the age of diagnostic equipment.
The report studies the financial scale of essential medical equipment acquisition in 10 global healthcare markets.
