The Department of Health and Social Care along with NHS England has issued guidance encouraging health sector buyers to work with SMEs, pointing to benefits including faster innovation, improved health equity, stronger supply chains, and advanced digital capabilities.
Pointing to the fact that SMEs are “often at the cutting edge of healthcare innovation” with tools and technologies such as AI and assistive technologies, the government states: “Engaging with SMEs early gives you access to agile, tailored solutions that can often solve specific system pressures faster and at a lower cost than traditional suppliers.”
SMEs are likely to specialise in areas central to NHS digital transformation, according to the government, across interoperability, population health dashboards, and real-time analytics. These strengths can help extract value from NHS data and support more efficient care, it suggests. Smaller teams might also offer increased responsiveness and adaptability, leading to “faster resolution times and closer working relationships”.
According to NHSE and the DHSC, strong supplier relationships “reduce risk and improve contract delivery over time”. Other benefits reportedly offered by SMEs include strong roots in local communities and engagement with underserved populations, sustainability and resilience in supply chains, and innovations in workforce wellbeing and scheduling to help address urgent workforce issues.
Four ways are outlined for buyers to support SME involvement, including breaking larger contracts into smaller lots and avoiding “unnecessary complexity in specifications or qualifications” that may exclude capable SMEs, focusing on phased delivery allowing SMEs to scale involvement or partner with others, and using milestone payments to reduce financial strain.
NHS buyers now have a policy mandate through the Procurement Act 2023 and the strategic imperative to encourage early SME involvement and build long-term collaborative supplier relationships, the government continues, adding: “SMEs are not small versions of large suppliers – they are specialist partners who can help you unlock innovation, resilience, and a better and more dynamic supply chain. Engaging SMEs is not a ‘nice-to-have’ – it’s a smarter, more impactful way to engage markets and ensure best possible outcomes from procurements.”
Wider trend: Innovation in health and care
InnoScot Health has issued a call for early-stage innovators including healthcare entrepreneurs in their final year of training or first year of practice, SMEs, and student entrepreneurs, with support in place to develop ideas toward commercialisation. Ideas or innovations are sought across a number of areas, including those improving patient care quality, safety, or outcomes; those increasing efficiency or affordability; those supporting workforce wellbeing; and those enabling data-driven and remote care transformation.
£20 million in government funding is being made available in the form of grants for innovators tackling drug and alcohol addiction, looking to develop digital tools such as wearables, apps, and VR as part of the Addiction Healthcare Goals programme. The grants are being made available through Innovate UK, for innovations and technologies focusing on improving treatment, aiding recovery, and reducing harms associated with addiction.
Changes to the Digital Technology Assessment Criteria (DTAC) to reflect findings from industry engagement have seen reductions to the number of questions asked of suppliers, clearer guidance on how to complete assessments, and closer alignment with NICE to focus on software-based digital health technologies. The new form will replace the previous DTAC assessment from 6 April 2026, with suppliers advised to no longer use the former version from this date.
