The Centre for Health Economics and Medicines Evaluation (CHEME), based at Bangor University, is uniquely qualified to provide the specialist health economics support required by the All Wales Therapeutics and Toxicology Centre (AWTTC) and the All Wales Medicines Strategy Group (AWMSG).
CHEME is one of the leading health economics centres in the UK. Its contribution to Bangor University’s 2021 Research Excellence Framework submission demonstrated that 95% of its research activity is internationally excellent or world‑leading, placing CHEME ninth out of 89 institutions for publication quality. This evidences a level of academic rigour, methodological expertise, and national standing that is not readily substitutable.
CHEME is the only health economics unit within an academic institution in Wales that specialises in pharmacoeconomics, including medicines access, medicines optimisation, pricing, prescribing, and health technology assessment (HTA). As such, there are no alternative providers within Wales that can offer an equivalent combination of specialist pharmacoeconomic expertise, academic independence, and deep understanding of the Welsh medicines decision‑making environment.
Professor Dyfrig Hughes leads the Pharmaceutical Economics, Pricing and Prescribing Research (PEPPER) group within CHEME. He and his team have supported the work of AWMSG and AWTTC for over 20 years, including sustained involvement in HTA processes, methodological development, and provision of strategic health economics advice to inform national decision‑making. This long‑standing engagement has resulted in extensive institutional knowledge of AWMSG systems, standards, timelines, and quality requirements.
CHEME has provided health economic support to AWMSG continuously since its establishment in 2003. During this period, AWTTC has been satisfied with the quality, consistency, and value of the services delivered, and a strong collaborative working relationship has been established. This continuity is critical given the sensitivity, time‑critical nature, and national importance of medicines appraisal and advisory functions.
The services to be delivered include specialist copy‑editing and quality assurance of health economic sections of Evidence Summary Reports and guidance documents, advisory screening of health economic content, strategic representation in relation to national methodological or process developments, delivery of annual training to AWMSG and its sub‑groups, and additional agreed specialist tasks in support of medicines access and optimisation work programmes where the maximum specified requirements are not reached (as provided for under Paragraph 5). These services rely on highly specialist expertise, methodological consistency, and trusted professional judgement developed through long‑term engagement.
Engagement of an alternative provider would result in a loss of established expertise, require significant familiarisation with Welsh HTA processes, and introduce avoidable risk to the quality, consistency, and timeliness of advice provided to Welsh Government and NHS Wales. No other supplier can demonstrate comparable specialist capability alongside a proven, long‑standing integration with the work of AWMSG and AWTTC.
For these reasons, Bangor University, through CHEME, is the only supplier capable of delivering the required services to the necessary standard. The appointment is therefore justified on the grounds of technical exclusivity, continuity of provision, absence of reasonable competition, and protection of service quality, with total input capped at no more than 488 hours per contractual year.