The NHS Innovation Service has been developed to accelerate the uptake of promising and impactful innovations into the NHS. Coordinated by the NHS Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC), the service aims to support the UK’s Life Science’s Vision to bring life-changing innovations to patients more quickly.

The online service for healthcare innovators aims to provide the right support for individuals and companies at all stages of their innovation journey. To support them to get their innovations, at any stage, adopted in the NHS and provide innovative solutions to NHS challenges.

It provides access to guidance and coordinated support from organisations who have experience, knowledge, and expertise in developing and supporting the wide-spread adoption of healthcare innovations. The service will help healthcare innovators work with the NHS and get the support they need to get their innovation to clinicians and patients faster.

It can help innovators understand essential elements to adoption and spread within the NHS, such as the regulations and standards they will need to meet; the evidence they should demonstrate; and the NHS procurement and reimbursement processes.

The service enables innovators to access tailored support and guidance from expert organisations, including Department for International Trade (DIT), Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), through one single platform in a coordinated way.

Innovators create an account and complete an innovation record, which contains detailed information about their innovation. This enables an expert team to determine the requirements for the innovation to be adopted and put the innovator in touch with the right organisation at the right time. At each stage, organisations offering support have access to the innovation record, which will accelerate the process and avoid duplication – saving innovators having to reintroduce their concept and progress to each organisation.

The NHS Innovation Service is currently in public beta – a public testing phase. Users will be able to provide feedback on the service based on their experiences, creating opportunities for it to improve with further testing. The service replaces the HealthTech Connect platform.

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