Annual review 2024-25


Transforming lives through innovation

Year in review

2024–25 has been a transformative year for healthcare.

Since our last annual review, a new government has taken office, bringing a bold and clearly articulated vision for the NHS. Central to this are three strategic shifts embedded in the NHS Ten Year Health Plan: from analogue to digital, from hospital to community, and from treatment to prevention.

Health innovation will be essential to realising these shifts. It is also a key driver of the government’s growth agenda, contributing to increased productivity and economic development.

This year, Health Innovation KSS has delivered innovation that benefits both healthcare and the wider economy. In this review, we highlight some of our most impactful projects and share case studies that we hope will inspire and inform others across the system.

None of this progress would have been possible without the support of our commissioners and partners. Over the past year, we’ve continued to strengthen relationships with health and care professionals, academia, researchers, innovators, industry, patients, and caregivers. We’ve also deepened our collaboration with local Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) to address shared challenges in innovation and transformation.

We are proud to have contributed to the development of the NHS Ten Year Health Plan and the Life Sciences Sector Plan. We stand ready to support their delivery by continuing to accelerate the spread of innovation and connect people to transformative ideas.

Looking ahead to 2025–26, with your continued support and collaboration, we are confident that Health Innovation KSS will play a pivotal role in building a healthier, more equitable society.

 

Professor Hatim Abdulhussein
Professor Hatim
Abdulhussein

CEO

Jane Ollis
Jane Ollis

Chair

Working with our partners in Kent, Surrey and Sussex, we have shared health equity resources with over 8,600 healthcare professionals, supported 414 companies, hosted 71 events, and delivered 56 fellowships. As part of a national Health Innovation Network’s maternity and neonatal safety programme, we have helped save up to 1,592 lives, prevented up to 536 cases of cerebral palsy, and created or safeguarded 912 health and care jobs nationally.

Three shifts

Innovation is at the heart of delivering the government’s three shifts for health and social care, and our work this year has made great strides in these areas.

We’ve shared a few examples here, but keep an eye out for the three shift symbols throughout this review to find more.

Hospital to community

Shifting care closer to home to better support people in their communities.

Hospital to community

Polycystic ovary syndrome test has potential to improve patient experience and reduce NHS carbon footprint

Link

Tackling problematic polypharmacy

Link

NHS Sussex and Health Innovation KSS partner to tackle health-related employment barriers

Link

Sickness to prevention

Taking proactive health measures to help people live longer, healthier lives.

Sickness to prevention

Sustainable Health Care Unit: A new approach to reducing health inequalities in Kent and Medway

Link

Developing simulation-based training programme for preterm births

Link

Transforming Prostate Cancer Care: Surrey and Sussex Cancer Alliance & Medefer Partnership

Link

Analogue to digital

Embracing digital technologies to modernise care delivery and improve efficiency.

Analogue to digital

2025 AI Visionaries Announced: Spotlight on Women’s Health Innovation

Link

Transforming primary care access and efficiency through Smart Triage: A case study

Link

Health Innovation KSS deliver Digital Fellows Programme for Maidstone Tunbridge Wells Trust

Link

#1.

Supporting innovators


Commissioned by the Government’s Office for Life Sciences (OLS) and NHS England, we support health and care businesses and individual innovators to help realise the potential of their ideas and to further develop their products for adoption and spread across our local footprint and nationally. We seek to find, test and implement the most promising innovations to meet the needs and priorities of our local systems.

Recognising the interlink between health and wealth, we have focussed support on innovations that can create local jobs and bring economic wealth into our region. In 2024-25, we have made a significant contribution to economic growth through our advice and guidance service to all innovators and our targeted support of high growth innovators who match local needs. Nationally, the Health Innovation Network achieved almost £500 million in funding leveraged and 912 jobs created or safeguarded across the country this year.

£0m

funding leveraged by companies supported by Health Innovation KSS

0

jobs created or safeguarded

0

companies supported by Health Innovation KSS

£0m

across three successful SBRI awards supported by Health Innovation KSS

Economic growth statistics achieved by Health Innovation Kent Surrey Sussex in 2024-25

We provide a wide range of support to med tech and digital innovators. The type and level depends largely on the needs and development stage of the specific innovation and the matching of their solution to local and national health and care needs and priorities. For example, we help early-stage innovators refine value propositions, while latter-stage support may include business case development and real-world evaluations and the brokering of connections with our local ICBs and providers.

We work closely with funders, like the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) and Innovate UK, to provide support to themed calls that meet the most pressing needs of health and care.

In 2023-24, we supported three successful SBRI bids which awarded a total of £1.2 million in funding. For example, we supported Luscii Healthtech, in partnership with Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, with a successful bid which will fund an evaluation of their acute virtual wards. The wards enable patients to receive hospital-level care at home, reducing hospital admissions and enhancing healthcare efficiency.

We also partner closely with our local ICSs to connect them to evidenced innovations that address their biggest challenges. This includes through our Primary Care Innovation Panel and the Kent & Medway Digital Innovation Board.

Head to our local programmes section to find out more

“Our Enterprise and Industry team has expertly guided a diverse range of high-potential innovators through the complexities of the health and care system this year. We’ve helped the development of the value proposition of their products translate into real-world solutions that drive their business forward, bring economic growth into our region and improve lives. The case studies in this review showcase our commitment to finding, testing and implementing impactful innovations across the South East.”

Nuala Foley

Associate Director Commercial and Enterprise

Analogue to digital

Case study

Transforming primary care access and efficiency through Smart Triage

Rapid Health’s Smart Triage is an autonomous patient triaging system, aiming to improve access for patients and enable better demand and capacity management. Smart Triage was introduced at the Groves Medical Centre in October 2023 for all GP appointment requests for over 18s, and all admin requests. Health Innovation KSS commissioned Unity Insights to conduct an independent evaluation showing improvements in access and capacity management. Rapid Health now plans to expand to other practices and explore mental health applications.

Doctor talking to patient

0%

of appointments automatically booked and allocated without staff or clinical intervention

0%

 fewer phone calls at 8am

0

days faster for patients to receive a pre-bookable appointment

Explore more examples of our work with innovators:

#2.

National programmes


The Health Innovation Network tackles national problems with local understanding, and local problems with national expertise. In addition to our OLS funding to support innovators, the network also receives core commissions from NHS England and the Accelerated Access Collaborative. As a local Health Innovation Network we work in partnership with a range of stakeholders across the Kent and Medway, Surrey and Sussex regions to deliver programmes across a multiple disease and focus areas.

In this review, we have included highlights from our Cardiovascular Disease, Polypharmacy and Patient Safety Collaborative programmes.

“I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved this year. In this section of our annual review, you’ll find a snapshot of the outstanding national programmes we’ve delivered in collaboration with our regional partners. As we look ahead, we’re excited to strengthen these partnerships and continue making a meaningful impact on the health and care of the 4.7 million people we serve.”

Lisa James

Chief Operating Officer

Hospital to communitySickness to preventionAnalogue to digital

Case study

Cardiovascular disease

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in England. The Health Innovation KSS CVD Prevention Programme supports the national ambition to prevent 150,000 strokes, heart attacks, and dementia cases by improving detection, management, and outcomes for patients.

At the heart of our CVD Prevention Programme is CVD Central, including a healthcare professionals’ network and an online hub providing free resources to support the detection and management of CVD.

A refreshed communications and engagement strategy has strengthened the network and improved access to resources for CVD Prevention, including lipids optimisation, heart failure, Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (FH), and Blood Pressure Optimisation (BPO).

“CVD Central is a wide-ranging and detailed collection of information, created by and collated from a range of experts which will hopefully be helpful across CVD prevention programmes.” –  Dr Richard Blakey, General Practitioner, Clinical Lead, CVD Prevention & Heart Failure Programmes, on behalf of Health Innovation Kent Surrey Sussex, CVDP Clinical Lead, NHS Sussex ICB.

Man at home takes blood pressure

0+

members on The CVD Central Network, with growing Primary Care Network (PCN) engagement across the region currently over 50% of PCNs in both Kent and Medway and Sussex and 25% in Surrey Heartlands

0%

open rate on the CVD Central newsletter in Q4

0

views on the CVD Central website and 188 resource downloads in Q3

In 2025-26 the national programme is Heart Failure, and the CVD Prevention team will continue to share updates and resources across the region to support innovation and best practice.

Find out more about our work in cardiovascular disease

Hospital to communitySickness to prevention

Case study

Polypharmacy

As people live longer with multiple long-term health conditions, the number of medicines they take often increases. In England, as of September 2023, nearly one million people were prescribed 10 or more medications.1 This phenomenon, known as polypharmacy, can place a significant burden on patients and increase the risk of harm. Problematic polypharmacy also contributes to 16.5% of unplanned hospital admissions due to Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs)3, costing the NHS in England an estimated £2.21 billion annually4.

The Polypharmacy Programme supports local health systems and primary care to identify patients at risk of harm due to multiple medications and encourages better conversations about medicines. It does this through providing data-driven insights, education and training for primary care, and public behaviour change campaigns.

“The SMR resources are simple, easy to understand, and readily available, which is a great use to our patients. We will most definitely be utilising this for other cohorts, for example, Severe Mental Illness.” – Dr Amber Khan.

Man with white hair and beard sitting at table looking at medicine bottle

0

Communities of Practice events attended by 506 stakeholders

0

participants in National Polypharmacy Action Learning Sets (training sessions)

0

Polypharmacy trainers accredited

0

attended NHSBSA Polypharmacy Prescribing Comparators Webinars

0

sites funded supporting seldom heard communities to participate in Structured Medication Reviews (SMRs)

Statistics for Kent and Medway, Surrey and Sussex for full three-year programme.

1 BNF Ch 1-4 and 6-10

2 Iqbal A, Richardson C, Iqbal Z, O’Keefe H, Hanratty B, Matthews FE, Todd A. Are there socioeconomic inequalities in polypharmacy among older people? A systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Geriatr. 2023 Mar 18;23(1):149. doi: 10.1186/s12877-023-03835-z. PMID: 36934249; PMCID: PMC10024437. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36934249/

3 BMJ Adverse drug reactions, multimorbidity and polypharmacy

4 NHS England » Support for prescribers

Sickness to prevention

Patient Safety Collaborative

The Health Innovation KSS Patient Safety Collaborative (PSC) plays an important role in delivering the National Patient Safety Improvement Programme. Its aim is to support systems to test and spread effective safety interventions and strategies, learn from excellence and continually improve.

Our Patient Safety work in 2024-25 focused on four key areas and highlights from each included:

  • Managing deterioration: 1409 (46%) Martha’s Rule escalation calls received between September 2024 and March 2025 were related to acute deterioration. Of those, 159 calls resulted in potentially life-saving escalations of care.
  • Systems safety: 100% of organisations in England have implemented the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF).
  • Maternity and neonatal: Through improving the care of preterm babies, the maternity and neonatal safety programme has saved up to 1,592 lives and prevented up to 536 cases of cerebral palsy.
  • Medicines safety: Through improving the management of chronic non-cancer pain, the medicines safety programme has saved up to 884 lives.
 National statistics as of Q4 2024/25

Case study

We supported the development of a multidisciplinary simulation-based training programme to support perinatal teams across Kent, Surrey, and Sussex and improve outcomes for preterm infants.

Preterm birth (PTB) is a leading cause of neonatal mortality and long-term morbidity. PREM7+ is the South East region’s perinatal optimisation care programme.

The programme is focussed on two key interventions: Optimal Cord Management (OCM) and normothermia (temperature management).

The programme aims to improve adherence to evidence-based practices, enhance perinatal teamwork, and reduce variation in care. Through collaborative design, pilot testing, and feedback-driven refinement, the training has demonstrated improved engagement, knowledge transfer, and potential for wider adoption across the region.

Read full case study here

Baby's foot in hospital

“This year, the Health Innovation Kent Surrey Sussex Patient Safety Collaborative has made a meaningful difference across all our programmes, empowering local partners to implement effective safety interventions that deliver real benefits for both patients and staff. I’m proud of the progress we’ve made, and the following case study, highlighting our maternity and neonatal programme, is a powerful example of the impact our patient safety initiatives are having.”

Ursula Clarke

Associate Director Patient Safety

Explore more examples of our national work:

#3.

Working with local ICSs


Beyond our national commissions, we partner with our regional health and care leaders to identify and address priority areas for innovation. We co-design delivery plans to support the local needs of three Integrated Care Boards (ICBs): Kent and Medway ICS, Surrey Heartlands Health and Care Partnership, and Sussex Health & Care.

Our delivery teams help to improve outcomes in population health and tackle inequalities. Our work enhances productivity and supports the workforce, as well as helping the NHS drive broader social and economic development.

Sickness to prevention

Case study

Sustainable Health Care Unit: A new approach to reducing health inequalities in Kent and Medway

NHS Kent and Medway, Health Innovation Kent Surrey Sussex (KSS) CVD Prevention and the Innovation for Healthcare Inequalities Programme (InHIP) team worked collaboratively to develop and implement a new approach to reducing local healthcare inequalities through their newly established Sustainable Healthcare Unit (SHCU).

The SHCU is a resource that helps teams in the Kent and Medway System to take data-informed actions to improve population health outcomes.

Creating the SHCU involved NHS Kent and Medway building a team of experts both internally and externally to design, disseminate and evaluate an action plan to tackle a specific health problem.

Its launch focus was hypertension and lipid management, with a view to adding other clinical conditions following evaluation.

doctor testing patient

0%

of all patients with hypertension successfully treated

0%

of patients with cholesterol successfully treated

0

more patients were seen to and treated accordingly

Reports from NHS Kent and Medway on the SCHU approach as of March 2025.

Analogue to digital

Case study

Creating a framework to responsibly scale AI solutions in Surrey

The Surrey AI Roundtable Series, co-led by NHS Surrey Heartlands and Health Innovation KSS, brought together over 50 stakeholders from healthcare, academia, and industry to co-develop a strategic blueprint for responsible AI adoption. Through three interactive roundtables and two ‘task and finish’ groups, the initiative explored governance, trust, clinical readiness, and education needs. The result is a scalable framework aligned with national priorities and tailored to local system challenges, setting the foundation for safe and effective AI integration across Surrey Heartlands.

Read full case study here

Medical professional using tablet

Sickness to prevention

Case study

Sussex Population Health Academy: Addressing health inequalities across the system

The Sussex Population Health Academy addresses health inequalities by building system-wide capability through health equity fellowships, webinar training, and the development of an online learning hub and community. In its second year, the initiative, led by Health Innovation KSS and NHS Sussex, scaled its reach with the launch of 12 new fellowships and delivered webinars to over 300 attendees.

“The fellowship has transformed my approach to work, my ability to see, navigate, and tailor our processes for colleagues and patients with attention to equity and inclusion.” – 2024-25 Fellow

Read full case study here

Health Equity Fellows receiving certificates

Analogue to digital

Case study

Kent & Medway Digital Innovation Board: Driving System-Wide Digital Transformation

The Kent & Medway Digital Innovation Board, supported by Health Innovation KSS, brings together a diverse group of stakeholders to coordinate, challenge, and shape digital innovation across the region. The Board fosters collaboration, reduces duplication, and aligns innovation with the region’s strategic priorities. Through initiatives, like a central innovation repository, AI guidance and multi-setting evaluations, the Board is creating a sustainable, system-wide approach to digital healthcare.

“There was a real buzz in the room, proving to ourselves that we’re all enthusiastic to work to the same future vision and values. This was a great first step in ensuring the expert digital clinical voice is heard to improve our workforce and patients’ lives.” – Mayur Vibhuti, Kent and Medway ICB CCIO

Doctor talking to patient via video call

0+

innovations mapped to ICS priorities

0

Chief Clinical Information Officer workshops held

Hospital to communityAnalogue to digital

Case study

Primary Care Innovation Panel: Bridging Innovation and General Practice

The Primary Care Innovation Panel, led by Health Innovation KSS, is a bi-monthly forum designed to bridge the gap between innovators and general practice. The panel has helped align innovation with real-world challenges, enabling the spread of technologies such as Rapid Health’s Smart Triage and Metadvice.

“It has been exciting to work with the Health Innovation KSS team and the Primary Care Innovation Panel. Looking at solutions to the real problems we face in primary care and how to navigate these, it has also enabled the opportunity to co-design what works for us, which has been a positive experience.” – Sarah Leng, Medway Valley PCN Digital Transformation Lead.

GP explaining medicine to a patient in a doctors surgery

0

panel sessions held

0+

 stakeholders engaged

0

 innovators showcased their solutions

Explore more examples of our local work:

#4.

Translating research into action


Translational research involves ensuring that promising innovations identified through research are put into practice. This could be digital tools, service redesigns or new models of care.

Health Innovation KSS has a close working relationship with the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration Kent, Surrey and Sussex (ARC KSS). It is one of 15 ARCs across England, supporting applied health and care research that responds to and meets the needs of the local population and local health and care systems. Together, we partner with ICSs, NHS trusts, local authorities, universities, communities, industry, and the voluntary and community sector to help researchers share their latest evidence with people who can use it and maximise the impact of their research.

Our priority research areas include:

Mental health

Mental health

Women's health

Women's health

Population health and inequalities

Population health and inequalities

Ageing well and dementia

Ageing well and dementia

Primary and community care

Primary and community care

Sickness to preventionAnalogue to digital

Case study

Promoting health equity through translational research

Health Innovation KSS has created a suite of useful resources to help promote health equity, amplify diverse voices and tailor innovations to meet the needs of various populations.

Young man using digital technology with older lady

Core intercultural concepts and principles toolkit – following positively evaluated intercultural awareness training delivered to 110 people across Kent, Surrey and Sussex, a toolkit was developed in partnership with Nafsiyat Intercultural Therapy Centre for those working with asylum seekers and migrants.

4200+ views

Digital inclusion frameworkan implementation framework and assessment tool to ensure everyone can benefit from health and care to reduce digital exclusion and associated health inequalities.

800+ views

Commissioner guide to health equity – supporting health and social care commissioners to address health inequalities of access.

1100+ views

Innovator guide to health equity – a similar resource was created for innovators to help them design, develop and implement innovations to achieve health equity.

2400+ views

Sickness to prevention

Case study

Growing research in women’s health

The Women’s Health Research Network (WHRN) was set up by Health Innovation KSS and University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust in May 2023 in response to the National Women’s Health Strategy for England.

The aim of the network is to collaborate, comment on, support and grow research focusing on Women’s Health. The network has over 250 members, including the voice of lived experience, academics, clinicians and Voluntary, Charity and Social Enterprises (VCSEs). Membership has spread across the Kent, Surrey and Sussex region, and continues to grow.

The network has facilitated multiple beneficial partnerships, matching curiosity with practicality.

Group of women smiling and laughing together

The WHRN is a novel and valuable network. It has connected me with the lead researchers and advisors on my research project, supported me with my funding application and will also help with dissemination of the study findings. This collaboration is invaluable in ensuring that my study will be relevant and deliver for the women of Sussex. By linking in with commissioners, there is also an opportunity to develop pilot studies to improve care for women. It is a really exciting collaboration with potential to lead in Women’s Health and research that could be replicated elsewhere in the country.” – Dr Claudia DeGiovanni, Consultant Dermatologist, Lead for research Medicine Division and South East RRDN Dermatology Specialty Lead.

Find out more here

Explore more examples of our translational research projects:

#5.

Year ahead


As we move into 2025-26 we continue to transform lives through innovation and are working towards the strategic detailed in our 2024-26 business plan.

Upcoming programmes in 2025-26 include:

Integrated neighbourhood teams

This programme will involve digitally enabled integrated neighbourhood care to provide proactive and preventative primary care for populations in place. It will use digital and AI to identify high-risk patients, enable multi-disciplinary team interventions and improve care coordination. We will be working with all three ICS systems at local neighbourhood level and within Primary Care networks to support these developments, as well as evaluating innovations currently being piloted and seeking to support adoption and implementation.

Find out more

Mental health

Our mental health portfolio will focus on early intervention, digital transformation, health equity, workforce innovation, and translational research. Key activities include implementing school mental health policies, evaluating digital tools for children’s mental health, delivering training for healthcare professionals, and developing scalable mental health service models in Sussex.

 

Find out more

Cardio-renal-metabolic disease programme

We are working locally and nationally to develop a cardio-renal-metabolic disease programme. This will support the early diagnosis of chronic kidney disease through raising awareness of simple readily available tests such as urine Albumin-Creatinine Ratio (uACR) and estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR), and subsequent initiation of NICE recommended treatments (pharmacological and lifestyle).

We aim to enable early detection of kidney disease in patients with diabetes and hypertension and ensure optimal management, which will lead to a reduction in the need for dialysis and/or renal transplantation and could prevent excess deaths due to heart attacks and strokes.

Find out more

WorkWell

NHS Sussex has partnered with Health Innovation KSS to support scoping and evaluation of an employment support programme (WorkWell) aimed at helping individuals facing health-related barriers remain or get back into work.

Working at neighbourhood level in three selected pilot sites, and through the Integrated Community Teams (ICTs), WorkWell will mobilise service integration between health and work. The initial focus is on supporting people experiencing musculoskeletal (MSK) and / or mental health conditions, two of the most common health issues that lead to long-term sickness and economic inactivity.

Find out more

#6.

Work with us


We are the health innovation adoption experts.

Our team of specialists is made up of nearly 50 clinical and non-clinical experts from multiple sectors. We have extensive knowledge and experience in health and social care, industry, academia, life science and research.

We transform lives through innovation by supporting health and social care teams to find, test and implement new solutions at scale to the NHS’s greatest challenges, driving economic growth.

If you would like to know more about anything featured in this review or want to see how we can work together, get in touch: enquiries@healthinnovation-kss.com.

Find out more about how we can work together:

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