Innovate UK and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, in partnership with Lilly, are offering NHS organisations the chance to apply for a share of up to £85 million for projects offering innovative community and primary care based weight management pathways.
The funding, comprising £50 million from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and £35 million from Eli Lilly and Company Limited, is split into three “strands”. The first is for access and management services, covering a patient-centred access service based on clinical need and addressing health inequalities, including multiple referral inputs across triage, onward referrals, escalation, care pathway management, and reporting. Supporting optimal use of national and local weight management services, innovations may be digital, physical, or hybrid.
The second strand is open for innovations offering new pathways and models of care following referral for intervention, with the ability to assess patient eligibility, check for contra-indications, and facilitate access to a choice of appropriate services. Examples for this strand may also include digital or remote solutions. For new models of care, the guidance notes that ICBs procuring behavioural support locally should submit specification and price to NHSE as part of OPIP reporting.
The third and final strand looks to a combined access and management service and care pathway services, covering the innovation requirements outlined for the first two strands. The whole pathway will be assessed, the guidance states, so applicants “must demonstrate end-to-end proposals of a consistently high quality”. Where existing services are incorporated into a new pathway, applicants should be able to demonstrate innovation to make them an eligible cost.
Those pathways selected will have “plausible plans” to recruit significant numbers of patients per year, and will offer a range of different support for patients, including lifestyle and weight management interventions, and if eligible, access to obesity medications.
Surrey Heartlands ICB and Sussex ICB have issued a market engagement opportunity in preparation for making a bid under strand three, combined access and management, looking to explore innovative ideas, technologies, and service models that could inform their competition entry. It looks to encourage engagement around areas of focus including family-based lifestyle interventions and multidisciplinary care models for 13 – 30 year olds, and support for medication adherence and holistic management for people with serious mental illness.
The engagement is designed to test market readiness for models of care defined under strand three requirements, with input sought from health and care providers, health tech companies, charitable and community organisations, and innovators with relevant expertise. A contract notice is expected around 1 April 2026.
Wider trend: care pathways and models of care
In a recent HTN Now panel discussion, we were joined by Antonia Frost, CNIO at Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust; Jen Tomkinson, assistant director of primary and community care development (urgent response and acute deterioration) at NHS England (SW region); and Roisin Reade, product manager at Civica, to discuss innovation in community healthcare. The session covered how innovation supports a future model of community care, the role of digital and what needs to be the focus in order to modernise services. We also explored what good looks like, looking at short-term goals and how the recent 10 Year Health Plan will shape the future direction.
A separate HTN Now webinar took an in-depth look at how technology is transforming skin cancer care at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, exploring successes in reducing two-week wait referral time from 57 days to 12 days, looking at challenges for implementing this approach, and sharing advice to other healthcare organisations looking to implement similar digital pathways. Sandy Anderson, consultant dermatologist at Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust, and Gabi Cohen, director of delivery at Isla Health, joined us to share their insight and experience on the project, which won in the HTN Awards category Case Study of the Year, before moving on to take questions from our live audience.
The West of England Pathology Network (WoEPN) published a £50 million prior information notice for the procurement of an end-to-end digital histopathology pathway earlier this year. The group was looking for a single supplier to provide a solution that comes with an image management system, scanners, monitors and associated hardware, while also offering storage and the ability to “link seamlessly into trust’s LIMs” and with 3rd party AI providers.
