Driving health and wealth: Health Innovation Network publishes 2024-25 Impact Report

In 2024-25, as a Network, we collectively delivered national programmes that benefited one million patients, leveraged almost £500m through our support to innovators, and created or safeguarded over 900 jobs in the UK.

Through our place-based partnerships, we worked alongside health and care teams to tackle some of the NHS’s most pressing challenges including cardiovascular disease, patient safety and health inequity.

This work led to 129 potentially life-saving interventions as a result of the roll out of Martha’s Rule, 884 lives potentially saved through the Medicines Safety Improvement Programme and over 700,000 patients are benefiting from improved Blood Pressure Optimisation.

We also continued to curate our national pipeline of over 3,100 new high-promising technologies, ideas and medicines, supporting the introduction of more than 150 innovations into new clinical settings and evaluation of a further 200 promising innovations. Last financial year, 685 innovators received the highest level of support from across the networks.

In partnership with our commissioners, NHS England and the Office for Life Sciences, and with colleagues across the innovation ecosystem, since 2018 a total of 4.9 million patients have benefited from our national programmes and initiatives, and our support to innovators has leveraged almost £3bn investment for the UK economy.

Richard Stubbs, Chair of the Health Innovation Network, said:

“This year’s report is yet another example of the value of health innovation, the impact the implementation of health innovation has on patients, the NHS workforce and the economy.

“The Defining the Size of the Health Innovation Prize report published earlier this year, found that health innovation has the potential to contribute £278bn to the economy and will be vital to delivering on the ambitions set out in the government’s 10 Year Health Plan and Life Sciences Sector Plan.

“The 15 health innovation networks now look ahead to operationalising these plans and working with our partners to build on this work, to find, test and implement innovations at scale.”

Dr Vin Diwakar, National Clinical Transformation Director for NHS England, said:

"Innovation remains central to transforming the NHS, ensuring a health service fit for the future, aligned with the government’s 10 Year Health Plan.

“The health innovation networks play a pivotal role supporting innovators and the NHS to develop, spread and adopt innovation, which is why the government has committed further investment in the 15 networks across England in the Life Sciences Sector Plan.

“We look forward to continue working with the networks to ensure they are even more effective in supporting increased healthy life expectancy, creating more jobs and attracting more investment to support British innovators driving economic growth.”

Roz Campion, Director of the Office for Life Sciences, said:

“It's great to see the continued investment in the 15 health innovation networks is supporting real growth and development for so many high promise and high potential innovations, as well as improved population outcomes and patient benefit.

“There is a clear vision and action plan to drive growth, innovation and better health outcomes in the Life Sciences Sector Plan, and 10 Year Health Plan and the work of the Health Innovation Network is central to achieving these ambitions.”