Dr Zubir Ahmed, health innovation and safety minister (Credit: Department of Health and Social Care)
The government has updated Intellectual Property (IP) guidance for the NHS in England to speed up innovation and patient access to new technologies.
Currently the NHS currently relies on guidance set up in 2002, which was not designed for technologies like AI, meaning that outdated processes have slowed down getting innovation to the front line, often being held up in complex local and legal negotiations.
The guidance, published on 18 November, streamlines processes, defines clearer roles and responsibilities and promotes consistent good practices in IP management across the NHS, making it simpler for ideas to move from concept to commercialisation.
Dr Zubir Ahmed, health innovation and safety minister, said: “For 23 years, a lack of up-to-date guidance about IP within the NHS has left innovators and collaborators navigating a labyrinth of uncertainty – facing unnecessary barriers that have held back life-changing ideas across the health service.
“I know how frustrating this has been for some of our greatest minds who want to bring their ideas to the NHS frontline, for our health system, and – ultimately – for patients missing out on world-leading treatments.
“The lack of clarity hasn’t just slowed progress; it has made it harder for industry, academia, and investors to work with the NHS to deliver ground-breaking new solutions.”
He added that the guidance will “slash archaic red tape” and “stop the latest innovations from getting stuck in a web of negotiations and paperwork”.
The guidance, developed in collaboration with the National Institute for Health and Care Research, supports the government’s 10 year health plan and delivers on the life sciences sector plan by accelerating patient access to new medicines and medical technologies, enabling world-class research and development, and supporting the commercialisation of ideas.
It aims to ensure the NHS is fairly rewarded for the innovations it helps create, with any returns reinvested into patient care and future innovation.
While primarily aimed at organisations providing or commissioning NHS services, it provides clarity for innovators, research funders, academia, and industry partners on IP ownership, collaboration and commercialisation.
Fiona Bride, director of medicines value and access at NHS England, said: “We’re pleased to have worked closely with government on this refreshed IP guidance, which brings much-needed clarity and consistency to how innovation is supported across the health service, and will help to get new treatments and technologies to patients faster.
“The NHS has an exceptional record in bringing forward the latest innovations to patients, and this guidance will strengthen this further, giving clinicians, researchers and partners the confidence to progress ideas that improve care, and help to deliver the ambitions of the 10 year plan.”
The Department of Health and Social Care and NHSE are hosting a series of webinars in November and December 2025 for organisations providing or commissioning NHS services, innovators and IP professionals.
Flann Horgan, head of healthcare sector at NTT DATA UK&I, said: “For too long, ideas with real potential have stalled in the no-man’s-land between local legal teams and national policy.
“This guidance brings the consistency innovators need to build with confidence across the NHS and it couldn’t come at a better time.”
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