OPINION
Place-based innovation and its role in improving health
Dr Dominique Allwood, Chief Executive, Imperial College Health Partners
If we are serious about improving the nation’s health, we must take innovation into the lives of people and communities. That means designing and delivering local change in places where people live, work, and receive care. By implementing innovations at pace
and scale, the national impact set out in the ambitions of Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England and the Life Sciences Sector Plan can be realised. Both plans recognise that place-based innovation is a strategic necessity. These national policies confirm what many of us working in health systems already know: the greatest gains will come when innovation is shaped by local context, with people who understand their communities and their needs, and through local strategic partnerships. Not only will this generate growth and prosperity in a local area, but it does so in a way that benefits the people in that community. And the scale of the opportunity is huge. In the Health Innovation Network’s recent report by Frontier Economics, Defining the Size of the Health Innovation Prize, innovations in healthcare could boost the UK’s growth by bringing in around £246 billion every year by tackling ill-health and bringing in foreign investment.
Why place matters Health outcomes in England are not evenly distributed. Many factors including geography, income, ethnicity, housing, and access to services all shape a person’s health trajectory. A child growing up in one part of London may live almost two decades longer than a child just a few miles away. This stark picture is replicated all over England. So what do we mean by place-based
innovation? I see this as the designing, testing, and scaling of solutions that are rooted in the specific needs of our system and geography, make best use of the assets available in the area. This requires, looking beyond organisational footprints, and acknowledging and addressing the context of our local
population. Collaborative, locally tailored innovation that is equity focused, scalable, and looks across the whole eco- system.
From innovation to impact The Government’s Life Sciences Sector Plan rightly reframes innovation as a public service enabler, a way of sustaining the NHS, improving population health, and driving local economic growth. But success will depend on implementation. It’s not enough to invent new ideas, we need to make them work in real-world setings. Strong collaborations with local
partners, for example universities, local government or local businesses, can support the implementation of innovation to go further and faster, and ensure that new ideas are fit for the local populations served. There is lots of this work happening
across the health innovation networks, for example in CVD prevention with innovators such as PocDoc. PocDoc’s Healthy Heart check is a simple finger prick blood test which can be used to support the detection of a person’s risk of cardiovascular disease, as part of a wider clinical pathway. There are eight health innovation networks currently working with PocDoc, testing CVD detection outside of clinical setings - from workplaces to community hubs, with implementation tailored to the needs of each local area. By focusing on early detection and reaching patients and residents who may not engage with NHS services we can prevent avoidable CVD events, give residents access to treatment earlier to manage their condition appropriately, and ultimately reducing the number of CVD-related deaths. And in a one-year trial between August
2023 and August 2024, the National Lipid Programme Workforce Support Solution, funded by Novartis, enabled 123 practices across 19 PCNs and six boroughs in northwest London to sustainably adopt and implement national lipid management pathway. This directly address the needs of the population, where high cholesterol affects over 800,000 residents (almost 30%). It was delivered through local structures and partnerships – including ICHP funding and facilitating weekly virtual lipid multi- disciplinary teams with consultant and pharmacist colleagues from four Trusts to support local practices and PCNs with discussion of complex cases who know their patients. In this one example, the
About Dr Dominique Allwood Dr Dominique Allwood is Chief Executive at Imperial College Health Partners. Dominique joined ICHP as Chief Executive Officer in February 2025. A Consultant in Public Health Medicine by background, for the past two decades she has worked in leadership, management and advisory roles driving change across health and care. She also maintains her part-time role as Director of Population Health at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.
www.imperialcollegehealthpartners.com
There are 15 Health Innovation Networks across England, commissioned to be the boots-on- the-ground support to local health and care teams to deliver health innovation, creating improved health and economic growth in all communities.
www.thehealthinnovationnetwork.co.uk
proactive, locally adapted approach resulted in around £122k of cost savings for the system, 6,321 patients identified as at-risk and invited to a lipid clinic, 246 staff members trained and 242 lipid clinics delivered. However, this isn’t about doing small
piece meal projects in local areas. This work is part of a mission-based approach to innovation that Imperial College Health Partners is taking to do fewer things for longer and at scale, to have meaningful impact. These examples show what’s possible when innovation is co-developed with local stakeholders, tested in real- world environments, and delivered in partnership.
Looking to the future The Health Innovation Network is built on a model of place-based collaboration. Across the country, we work with ICSs, NHS workforce, academia, industry (form SMEs to multinationals) and the voluntary sector to match innovation to local priorities. But we must now go further. That
means harnessing digital and data to support new models of care, for example Integrated Neighbourhood Teams, building strategic industry partnerships to supercharge our life sciences sector, and deploying proven innovation to bolster primary and secondary prevention. If we are to meet the ambitions set out in the 10 Year Health Plan and the Life Sciences Sector Plan, we must embed innovation in place where lives are lived, health is created, and inequalities are felt most acutely. Innovation can boost local, inclusive,
economic growth – generating prosperity and ensuring local people who live and contribute to a place benefit from it.
PPi February 2026
WWW.PATHOLOGYINPRACTICE.COM 5
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56
