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A message from our Chief Executive
Looking back over my 20+ years of advising or working in the NHS, it’s clear that the NHS undergoes a major organisational restructuring every few years with the objective of improving efficiency. 2025 saw the start of another such process, with the proposed abolition of NHS England and the absorption of its key functions into the Department of Health and Social Care, the reduction in the number of ICBs from 42 to around 22 and around 18,000 staff facing redundancy. At the same time, acute hospitals have been required to focus particularly on reducing elective waits and preserving cash, whilst also facing the periodic disruption caused by the resident doctors’ strikes. And our colleagues in primary care reached a major milestone, with all practices required to provide online access by 1 October.
This is a particularly difficult environment in which to be supporting the transformational change in health and care that comprises our core work, especially when NHS organisations do not typically set aside dedicated funding for change beyond a given financial year. However, our work is now supported more than ever by national policy, with the Health Innovation Networks specifically cited in the NHS’s 10 Year Health Plan and the Life Sciences Sector Plan, both of which were published this summer and focused on innovation as the way to help the NHS achieve its goals in the medium term.
Our current and planned work therefore focuses more than ever on bridging the gap between policy and impact in healthcare, supporting our NHS colleagues to treat the conditions that impact on the greatest numbers of people and helping our partners in industry to work more closely together with the NHS. And our health data solutions team continues to expand in line with the developing use cases for supporting colleagues in early-stage medical research.
In this issue of our newsletter I am particularly delighted to introduce some practical guidance we have written on the adoption of ambient voice technologies in healthcare and the story of the first mainstream use of a pioneering technology to diagnose COPD. We also have a moving story of how our specialist team from the Patient Safety Collaborative has improved a patient’s life through its work on Martha’s Rule.
Our work is founded above all on our deep working relationships, often developed over many years, with clinicians, academics and the health and life sciences industries across the East of England.
As we look forward to the Christmas break, I would like to thank each and every one of you for your collaborations with us. I hope that you get to have a relaxing Christmas with your families and look forward to working with you all in 2026.
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Piers Ricketts Chief Executive | |
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New publication: Ambient Voice Technologies: A resource for health and care workers in England | |
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In a new Health Innovation Network blog, Piers Ricketts, Chief Executive Officer, and Philip Shelton, Director of Industry Partnerships, both from Health Innovation East, introduce a new resource for health and care workers, discussing the opportunities for AVT and how we can support safe implementation. | |
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SNEE TidalSense wave one announcement
Our partners at TidalSense featured on BBC Look East, with the news that Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board is the first ICB in the country to commission the AI-aided technology, N-Tidal® Diagnose, to test for COPD.
| | AI platform delivers 800% return for the NHS – enabling earlier cancer diagnosis and generating £1.5 million in annual savings
The study, which was commissioned by Health Innovation East and published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, has shown that C the Signs has delivered an 808% return on investment for the NHS.
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10 women's health innovations selected for Accelerating FemTech: Evaluate
Following a competitive application process, 10 innovators have been selected for Accelerating FemTech: Evaluate to support them to enter their chosen market.
| | Applications for the NIHR ARC East of England Fellowship 2026 are now open
This 12-month funded opportunity is for professionals working in heath, care and voluntary services across the East of England who want to develop their research and impact skills by leading a study to improve their service.
Deadline: 12pm, 7 January 2026
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Martha's Rule in action - a patient's story | |
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Patient, Elaine, and her daughter, Diane, share their personal experience of calling Martha's Rule into action and how it ensured Elaine's full recovery. | |
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Life after breast cancer: a focus on positive intimate health | |
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Dr. Chiara Board, founder of P.Happi®, shares two patient stories which illustrate her motivation to address one of the common side effects women experience after breast cancer treatment – an issue that P.Happi® aims to address across women’s health more broadly. | |
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Driving a culture of improvement | |
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Our patient safety team share their key takeaways from the 2025 HSJ Patient Safety Congress. | |
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Co-designing change: how logic model workshops support real-world innovation | |
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Our real-world evaluation team share their lesson's and learnings from their logic model workshops. | |
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Health Innovation: The East of England's Engine for Growth
In the first of a series of articles with Eastern Powerhouse, we focus on the value of health and care to the region and how new technologies and innovations can transform economic outcomes for the wider populations. | | How the East of England is leading the way on innovation for healthy ageing
Developed with Eastern Powerhouse, we focus on the importance of healthy aging for the East of England.
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Building a safer system: how Hertfordshire's suicide prevention pathway is changing mental health | |
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Find out how our evaluation of the Hertfordshire suicide prevention pathway is offering learnings to other trusts or health systems looking to implement their own suicide prevention pathways.
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Insights to impact masterclass: helping innovators align with NHS Net Zero | |
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Join us to understand how to embed sustainability into your innovation journey and strengthen your readiness for NHS partnerships, procurement, and investment.
This session will be delivered in collaboration with Eco Sourcing Hub, specialists in supporting health and life science SMEs to measure, manage, and reduce their carbon footprint. | |
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We enable excellence across health and care systems and work with innovators to implement and accelerate their innovation across health and care systems. | |
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Find out more about our comprehensive consulting service and how we can support you. | |
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Our mailing address is: Unit C, Magog Court, Shelford Bottom, Cambridge,CB22 3AD You can read the Health Innovation East privacy policy here. | |
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