The fourth round of the NHS Cancer Programme Innovation Open Call has opened for applications, with funding of up to £5 million on offer for innovations to support earlier diagnosis and treatment.
According to the challenge brief, the programme is seeking innovations or new approaches that will improve productivity by managing demand or improving capacity on cancer care pathways, to support the NHS in meeting cancer waiting time standards by March 2029. It is also looking to support innovations offering opportunities for earlier detection and diagnosis, such as novel screening, case-finding, or diagnostic tools, to help ensure three quarters of people diagnosed with cancer will be cancer free, or living well with cancer after five years, by 2035.
Potential examples cover innovations to promote triage in primary or community care, avoiding unnecessary referrals onto urgent suspected cancer pathways; AI tools to triage cases referred onto urgent suspected cancer pathways; AI decision support tools; and ambient AI tools.
Requirements are also set out by SBRI Healthcare around the need for innovations to be interoperable with relevant NHS systems, including EPRs, the NHS App, the federated data platform, and the Cancer360 pathway management tool.
Two types of funding are available, with the first looking to support the real-world deployment and independent evaluation of market-ready innovations with up to £3 million over a maximum of 24 months. Applications for this funding model are open to single organisations based in the UK or EU that have a demonstrable partnership with an NHS organisation in England and an independent evaluation partner.
The second type of funding offers up to £5 million to support innovations that have already been proven to demonstrate positive patient outcomes and “a favourable cost benefit or cost effectiveness profile”. This funding model is available to ICBs in partnership with Cancer Alliances based in England. Projects matching this funding type will be funded over the first 24 months of a maximum 36 month period.
“This model is designed to “fund the change as well as the tech”, which is often crucial to enable the effective adoption and spread of proven innovations,” SBRI Healthcare notes. “This will be through an outcomes-based, matched funding agreement with Integrated Care Boards.”
Applications close on 1 December at 13:00, with contracts expected to start no later than 30 April 2027.
Wider trend: Health tech innovation
In its newly published 2030 strategy, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has vowed to reduce regulatory barriers for UK start-ups and SMEs, develop a modern regulatory framework for AI as a medical device, and move forward with plans for the use of AI in transforming medicines development. Introducing the strategy, MHRA chief executive Lawrence Tallon said: “We are in the midst of a period of extraordinary scientific and technological discovery, which is helping to reshape how diseases can be prevented, diagnosed and treated…These ground-breaking developments challenge traditional regulatory models and require innovative approaches to evidence generation, clinical research design, manufacturing oversight and safety and surveillance.”
An open framework for the future procurement of 
Digital Primary Care General Practice Information Technology (GP IT) solutions, valued up to £838 million, has been announced by NHS England. The framework procurement process is expected to open next month, ahead of an anticipated launch of the framework in Q3 2027. It’s to span three lots, covering: foundation electronic patient record (EPR) solutions, clinical and operational support solutions, and research and development. “The technology used in general practice falls into two groups: core digital capabilities needed to deliver care, including the recording, management and access of patient health information (‘foundation’ electronic patient record solutions); and broader digital capabilities which provide clinical and operational support solutions to complement, extend or enhance the core digital capabilities (sometimes referred to as ‘non-foundation’ solutions),” outlines NHSE.
HTN is delighted to launch the HTN Now Awards – for health tech innovators, healthcare teams, partnerships and suppliers to showcase how they’re making an impact! Providing a platform for innovations, solutions, case studies, collaborations and projects that have made a difference, the awards showcase those who are helping to improve services and systems across healthcare.
