KSS AHSN relicensed to lead innovation – under a new name

NHS England and the Office for Life Sciences have relicensed AHSNs to lead healthcare innovation for five more years

The announcement confirmed that KSS AHSN – and England’s 14 other AHSNs – will be relicensed with the new name of ‘Health Innovation Networks’ (HINs). The new licence comes into effect from 1 October 2023 for five years and was welcomed by KSS AHSN’s Chief Executive.

“I am delighted that AHSNs are to be re-licensed for another five years. This gives an opportunity to build on the success of supporting both nationally mandated innovation, and innovation developed locally, increasingly co-designed with the full range of people who receive and deliver health and care offerings. I also welcome the name change – it will make us more effective if what we do is clear from our name.

“Across Kent Surrey and Sussex we will continue to support access to better, more inclusive, fairer care. We will support businesses to reach those people with evaluated interventions and continue our focus on understanding how more people are reached by innovation so that benefits are available to all.”

Set up in 2013 as innovation arms of the NHS, the national AHSN Network was established in 2018, when the first set of national programmes were adopted. Since then, AHSNs have delivered 11 national adoption and spread programmes and supported the rapid uptake of 28 NICE-approved products. These initiatives alone have benefited more than 2.3 million patients. AHSNs have also helped to leverage investment of more than £1.8bn into the UK in the same timeframe.

As a Health Innovation Network, KSS AHSN will continue to support local innovation and transformation, working with Integrated Care Systems (ICSs). They will support innovators to develop innovations to address local needs, and come together with the national network to evaluate, spread and scale promising innovations.

Matt Whitty, Director of Innovation, Research and Life Sciences for NHS England, said: “The renamed network will have a critical role to play in supporting the new Integrated Care Systems to adopt innovations and will be aligned to NHS priorities such as tackling health inequalities and fulfilling the Life Science’s Vision to deliver improved public services and grow the economy.”

Read the national announcement here.