The Innovation Ecosystem Programme: life-sciences powered growth for the UK

The UK has a proud record of innovation in healthcare and the deployment of innovations. Every day in the hospital and across the wider integrated care system in which I work, I see how patients benefit from innovations designed by UK life sciences innovators, developed and trialled by NHS staff, and delivered for the first time in the world to UK patients. The NHS pioneered procedures such as intra-ocular lens implants and total hip replacements and introduced novel technologies like CT and MRI scanning. Today exciting innovations are harnessing AI for faster image interpretation, and automation of laboratory and genomic testing to dramatically improve treatment choices. We should be in no doubt that our ecosystem has enabled earlier access to these innovations and transformed people’s lives.

Every day I also see the very real economic benefits innovation brings. I have the privilege of working in a world leading life sciences cluster, bringing employment and skills to the region and the UK – from apprenticeships to Nobel Prize winning academics – a community of energy and creativity that benefits the health of the nation and its economy

UK leading the way

People from across the innovation ecosystem we have spoken to have a clear sense that the UK can, and should, be the world’s innovation test bed. Their confidence stems from our world leading academic institutions, globally respected regulators, amazing patient groups and third sector organisations, and a world leading life sciences sector with established firms and cutting-edge innovators. Where this has come together, we lead the world in emerging technologies like genomics and AI. Our healthcare staff are motivated to lead and drive this. We know that staff undertaking innovation and research are the most engaged and motivated in the NHS.

Innovation is more important than ever. Our healthcare system is changing, and it must. It is estimated that by 2037 there will be 55% more people over 85 and as people age, they require more care and more complex care. Furthermore, the proportion of our working age population is decreasing, putting pressure both on the NHS workforce and on public finances. Without embracing innovation, we put at risk having a sustainable healthcare system that meets the needs of our population. I see this in the eyes of the patients and staff on the challenging days in the hospital.

Supporting innovation

Yet despite this urgent need to act, the staff, patients and wide range of partners we spoke to sensed we were missing the opportunity to respond to the challenge. Many said it took too long or was too difficult to try something new in a way that worked for them. Staff feel they do not have the capacity or the support to test, adopt and scale innovation, and even when they do, they have disjointed policy and regulation hurdles to clear, often within sceptical or risk averse cultures. Industry and academic partners often find it difficult to establish effective partnerships with NHS providers and integrated care boards. We heard that nationally, NHS England and government could do much more to provide clarity and consistency in their policy and priorities, and support to promote collaboration between the healthcare system and industry and academic partners.

If we do not address these issues patients will not get earlier access to innovations, and they may not get access at all. We are starting to see companies planning not to launch medical devices in the UK. Some innovations arising from publicly funded research are benefitting patients in other markets but not here. If the UK has not supported the development and uptake of innovations, they can be priced at levels that do not deliver justifiable value.

A huge opportunity

The scale of the opportunity is huge and wide ranging: for instance, automation to support the workforce, miniaturisation to allow people to receive more diagnostic tests and care out of hospital, and personalised biomarkers to improve outcomes and pick up disease earlier. The commitment of time and effort from industry members, academics, NHS staff and patients we have worked with during the review gives me confidence that we can make real progress in short order.

Most importantly, I want to emphasise that realising the opportunities will require a greater scale of ambition, with the funding, long-term planning and support to match. Many of the recommendations in the Innovation Ecosystem Programme report will not feel new; they will be familiar from past discussions and reports on the topic. What is different here is the consistent, coordinated, long-term approach to fixing what is holding us back, and fixing it collaboratively. Delivering the recommendations set out in the full report will take time, and we must therefore focus immediate action on our key priorities – agreeing our core national priorities, enhancing and simplifying our innovation oversight, mobilising our core clusters behind this work and engaging with the innovation leaders of the future.

Roland Sinker CBE
Chief Executive of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
National Director for Life Sciences, NHS England

Read the full report at https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/ the-innovation-ecosystem-programme/