Landmark report reveals hidden barriers to NHS innovation

UCLPartners has published State of the Nation: Insights from UK Health Innovators, a landmark research report highlights the systemic barriers preventing the NHS from fully realising the benefits of health innovation. 

Drawing on in-depth interviews with more than 50 digital health innovators in England, the report highlights how fragmented regulation, slow procurement processes, and limited support for NHS staff are holding back technologies that could improve patient care, ease workforce pressures, and drive economic growth. 

Of the innovators interviewed, only 28% had been successfully procured and scaled across the NHS. Many struggle to navigate complex regulatory and procurement pathways. One innovator commented: “We are often stuck in ‘pilotitis’, with no movement from pilot to business-as-usual and Trusts not knowing which horse to back.” 

NHS staff, meanwhile reported having “no time, no support, and no incentives” to engage in innovation,   

The report comes at a pivotal moment, following the government’s 10-Year Health Plan, Life Sciences Sector Vision, and the creation of the Regulatory Innovation Office (RIO) – all designed to build a more innovation-friendly environment. UCLPartners’ findings show that unless practical reforms are implemented, regulatory and adoption barriers will continue to slow progress. 

Professor Becky Shipley OBE FREng, Chief Research Officer at UCLPartners said: 

Innovation must be rooted in real-world problems, not abstract solutions. Clinicians and innovators need the right conditions to work together – otherwise, the pace of change the NHS urgently needs will remain out of reach. 

To create the conditions for successful innovation, we must develop a national innovation strategy with clearer demand signalling. There also needs to be standardised procurement and funding routes across trusts and Integrated Care Boards (ICBs).

The report directly supports the government’s drive to strengthen the UK’s position as a global health innovation leader. By tackling systemic barriers, the NHS can unlock faster adoption of proven technologies – improving care for patients, creating efficiencies, and supporting the growth of the UK life sciences sector. 

UCLPartners is calling on policymakers, regulators, NHS leaders, and industry to work together to translate these findings into action. 

The report complements Thinking Differently, published by the Health Innovation Network, creating a combined roadmap for aligning national policy with frontline innovation needs. 

The findings of our report have been shared in a blog by Professor Becky Shipley OBE FREng in the HSJ.