About the NHS Innovation Lab
The NHS Innovation Lab ran from 2020 to 2023, originally as part of NHSX and then continuing as part of NHS England’s Transformation Directorate.
Its goal was to rapidly trial innovative ideas in real-world health and social care settings. It particularly focused on technologies which had the potential for widespread impact across the country within a 2 to 5 year timeframe.
Its project roadmap was driven by user needs and real-world problems and was shaped by engagement with staff from across the health and social care sectors.
After validating problems with data and user research, the Lab co-designed solutions with patients, clinicians and other stakeholders to test whether a particular technology would be fit for purpose in addressing it. Rapidly experimenting, iterating, evaluating benefits and identifying potential barriers to adoption helped inform national programme priorities and product roadmaps.
Focus areas
In line with the organisation’s priorities, the Innovation Lab was focussed on testing solutions which could:
- reduce the burden on staff
- help access clinical information
- improve health and care productivity
- provide tools to access services directly
- improve safety across health and care systems
by exploring challenges that:
- aligned with one or more of the focus areas
- couldn’t be solved with an existing product or service
- were based on a real need
- affected the NHS on a large scale
- could be solved with a digital solution
Case studies for some of the Lab’s work can be found on the Innovation Lab homepage.
Open source
One of the Lab’s core principles was working in the open. Proof-of-concept code from across its projects is archived on Github.
Contact
Any enquiries relating to the Innovation Lab’s work should be directed to england.innovation.lab@nhs.net.