Health Innovation Wessex welcomes the NHS 10 Year Health Plan

The focus on innovation within the Government’s 10 Year Health Plan for England has been warmly welcomed by Health Innovation Wessex.

Building on over a decade’s experience of partnering with academia, industry and health and care teams to deliver innovative change in the NHS and drive economic growth, the whole Health Innovation Network believes that combining national leadership with locally delivered initiatives will successfully leverage the capabilities of local economies and address their health needs.

Health Innovation Wessex has been helping translate research and technological advances into real-world impact since 2013, ensuring that innovation reaches patients and frontline services efficiently in both national programmes and supporting local NHS priorities.

Following today’s publication, Health Innovation Wessex will work with the other members of the Health Innovation Network to develop an action plan.

Chief Executive Nicola Bent said: “We are fully committed to helping realise the aims of the NHS 10 Year Plan and I was pleased to see its emphasis on innovation and speeding up its adoption by the NHS to achieve the three shifts. 

“Its focus areas on digital technology, as well as increasing the ranges of patient care delivered within the community and dedicated to prevention, are priorities for which all 15 Health Innovation Network regional teams are well-placed to enable.

“Within Health Innovation Wessex we have teams with vast industry, operational and clinical expertise in the healthcare sector, well-placed to deliver the aims of the 10 Year Health Plan and initiatives to exploit the opportunities in artificial intelligence, big data, genomics and personalised medicine, and wearable technology.”

The plan details how the three key shifts in health service provision will be achieved:

• From hospital to community: transforming healthcare with easier GP appointments, extended neighbourhood health centres, better dental care, quicker specialist referrals, convenient prescriptions, and round-the-clock mental health support - all designed to bring quality care closer to home.

• From analogue to digital: creating a seamless healthcare experience through digital innovation, with a unified patient record eliminating repetition, AI-enhanced doctor services and specialist self-referrals via the NHS app, a digital red book for children's health information, and online booking that ensures equitable NHS access nationwide.

• From sickness to prevention: shifting to preventative healthcare by making healthy choices easier – banning energy drinks for under-16s, offering new weight loss services, introducing home screening kits, and providing financial support to low-income families. 

Since 2018, the HIN’s support for innovators has safeguarded or created over 10,300 jobs and generated a £2.81 return for every £1 invested in it.

A recent report commissioned by the HIN demonstrated a potential £246 billion per year to be gained in economic productivity from investment in health innovation, estimated that work in proactive cholesterol management delivers a potential £1.06 billion in long-term health and productivity gains, while the national adoption of AI stroke technology innovation was estimated at £434 million in benefits by ensuring quicker and more effective treatment.