A consortium of NHS hospitals across Scotland and northern England is preparing the health service to deliver gene and cell therapies to 15 million patients. These advanced therapies—which modify a patient’s genes or use living cells as treatments—are more effective than existing options for some blood disorders, autoimmune diseases, and eye conditions, and offer hope for diseases that currently have no cure. But most are still in clinical trials, and the NHS is not yet set up to deliver them safely at scale. The challenge is not just medical: it involves retraining nurses, pharmacists, and managers, redesigning hospital workflows, and integrating complex manufacturing and supply chains with NHS systems. If this project succeeds, the NHS will become a global leader in rolling out advanced therapies. That means patients in the UK will get earlier access to treatments that could transform their lives, while the infrastructure built here—trained staff, streamlined logistics, and proven delivery models—could be adopted by other health systems worldwide. The project also aims to help manufacturers design better clinical trials and track long-term outcomes, making the UK an attractive place to develop and test these therapies.
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"The Northern Alliance Advanced Therapies Treatment Centre (NAATTC) is a group of NHS hospitals and services. NAATTC has a wide geographical reach across Scotland and the North of England and is responsible for the health care of 15 million NHS patients. Advanced therapies are becoming increasingly available with a growing number of companies developing them both in the UK and worldwide. They are based on the administration of gene- and cell-based products in specialities such as haematology, autoimmunity, hepatology, cardiology and ophthalmology. They are thought to be more effective than existing treatments and provide treatments for diseases where currently no effective therapy exists. However most are still in clinical trials. Advanced therapies present significant challenges to healthcare providers compared with existing treatments. Addressing these challenges in the NHS will require development and dissemination of new skills for nurses, doctors, hospital pharmacists, NHS managers, and commissioners such as NHS England and the clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). It will also require changes in the way treatment is delivered. The changes required in the NHS can only be properly implemented through partnership with the companies that are developing and providing advanced therapies to the NHS. Manufacturers will need assistance with clinical trials to ensure optimal trial design, effective recruitment into clinical trials, and long term follow up of outcomes. The manufacturing and distributing processes are complex and it is critical that these systems are integrated effectively with those within the NHS. The NAATTC already has considerable experience of delivering advanced therapies and clinical trials and will use this experience to work with manufacturers (and their supply chains) to significantly increase their capacity to deliver advanced therapies effectively, safely, and seamlessly to patients within the NHS. It will identify gaps in our existing provision and develop solutions to narrow and eliminate the gaps. It will share the best practice that it develops to other ATTCs and to other NHS organisations. The outcomes will be to deliver these promising therapies to NHS patients and to make the NHS a global leader in their delivery, creating health and wealth for the UK."
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