Making innovation part of healthcare

A system under pressure

Health systems worldwide face growing and changing demand, linked to ageing populations, chronic disease and the long-standing challenge of paying for innovation. In the NHS, these pressures are accentuated by the lasting effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and extreme financial pressures.

Fit for the Future, the government’s 10 Year Health Plan for England, aims to put the system on a more sustainable footing through digital technologies, more care in the community, prevention, workforce capability, productivity, data and scientific advances. The report identifies innovation as key to achieving these ambitions.

Innovation related to the 10 Year Health Plan

RAND Europe was supported by the Wellcome Trust to consider how to shape a healthcare system with innovation embedded into its fabric. Part of this work was commissioned by Lord Ara Darzi to inform the Future State Programme and wider government thinking about innovation in relation to the 10 Year Health Plan.

RAND Europe’s analysis of the evidence base suggests that research-active NHS settings deliver better quality and safer healthcare, with lower patient mortality, and that clinical trials in the NHS support earlier patient access to novel treatments. The team also found evidence suggesting that research-active organisations support improved productivity, and that research and innovation in the wider health system creates jobs and revenue.

Opportunities ahead

The report points to untapped potential for more personalised care through genomic medicine, more precise care through novel immunotherapies, and more timely care outside hospitals – for example remote monitoring of blood pressure and digitally enabled mental health therapies.

It stresses that innovation must help mitigate inequalities in access rather than exacerbate them, and that responsible policy will need to balance short-term priorities with a long-term vision for research and innovation in NHS reform.

Seven mechanisms identified by RAND Europe

The work outlined seven mechanisms for leveraging research and innovation throughout the NHS:

1. 01Workforce education and opportunities to engage with innovation.
2. 02Improved access to, use of and sharing of data, information and evidence, built on public trust.
3. 03Upgrades to basic physical infrastructure to make the most of high-tech facilities.
4. 04A focus on enhanced strategic demand, with longer-term budget cycles and broader cost-effectiveness assessments.
5. 05More streamlined R&D governance and leaner, less bureaucratic regulation.
6. 06Closer coordination between health policy and industrial strategy, and between regional and national efforts.
7. 07Inclusive patient and public engagement in research and innovation.