New Accelerator Boosts Digital Health Access to NHS
Digital health firms that have reached the stage of scaling their solutions now have a new route to NHS primary care through the Primary Care Ready accelerator, a five‑day programme launched by Health Innovation West of England and One Care. digital health firms can benefit from this focused pathway.
What the programme offers
The initiative targets companies that already possess market‑ready technologies but need guidance on NHS procurement. Participants will attend five in‑person sessions in Bristol between 12 October and 5 November 2026. Each meeting combines commercial advice with direct contact from primary‑care leaders, clinicians and innovation specialists.
According to the outline, attendees will learn how primary‑care commissioning works, identify who decides on purchases, and discover how value is measured within the NHS. The curriculum also covers implementation tactics and scaling pathways, drawing on insight from One Care, one of the nation’s largest GP federations.
Industry perspective
Alex Leach, deputy director of programmes at Health Innovation West of England, said many innovators produce strong products yet stumble when trying to enter the NHS primary‑care market. “Success requires much more than a strong product. It depends on understanding how primary care works, who makes purchasing decisions, how value is assessed, and how to demonstrate a compelling case for adoption,” he explained.
Leach added that the accelerator “has been designed to address those challenges. By combining expert commercialisation support with direct access to primary care leaders and operational expertise, we’re helping innovators deliver solutions that better suit the needs of the primary care market and become investment‑ready, procurement‑ready and ultimately adoption‑ready.”
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Morgan Daly, One Care’s deputy digital director of transformation and strategy, noted the partnership’s deep knowledge of the practical hurdles faced by GP practices. “Our partnership approach has given One Care an in‑depth understanding of the realities and complexities of implementing new technologies in primary care settings,” he said. “Through the Primary Care Ready programme, we’ll help innovators understand procurement, operational workflows, clinical priorities and what successful adoption looks like in practice.”
The initiative aligns with the NHS’s broader push toward neighbourhood health, prevention and digital transformation, aiming to shift care from hospitals into community settings.
Applications are open now; interested firms can apply through the Health Innovation West of England portal.
While the schedule is compact, organizers stress that the five‑day format is intensive, with each session focused on a different aspect of market entry. Participants will leave with a roadmap outlining next steps for engaging NHS decision‑makers and scaling within primary‑care networks.
