Success in establishing wider transformation efforts as part of the 10-Year Health Plan depends on delivering a research-and-innovation-powered NHS. This report discusses how to achieve a vision for what good looks like in terms of research and innovation in the NHS, for patient, health system and societal benefit.

From research to reality

Research and innovation in the NHS as key to enabling the 10-Year Plan

Sonja Marjanovic, Zuzanna Marciniak-Nuqui, Hampton Toole, Stephanie Stockwell, Sarah Parkinson, Sorana Bucseneanu, Jonathan Grant, Nick Fahy

ResearchPublished Mar 17, 2025

Cover: From research to reality
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Note: This report was updated on April 9, 2025, to correct a minor factual error on page 36.

Research and innovation should provide the evidence, insights and skills that enable change and improvement throughout the NHS. The UK has a unique opportunity to reinvigorate, spread and scale research and innovation to benefit patients, the health service, the economy and wider society. However, this potential has not yet been fully realised. Success in establishing wider transformation efforts as part of the 10-Year Health Plan depends on delivering a research-and-innovation-powered NHS. Seven support mechanisms are key to achieving an efficient, effective and equitable health service enabled through research and innovation. These support mechanisms need to work together for the system as a whole to work and relate to: a research-and-innovation-active workforce; information, evidence and data environments; physical infrastructure; funding, commissioning and procurement; R&D governance and regulation of innovation; collaboration and coordination of research and innovation activity; and patient and public involvement, engagement and participation, including considering inequalities. Only an NHS that embraces research and innovation can transition to meet the needs of the present and to futureproof the wider health system in a sustainable way. Realising this means linking multiple stages and actors across the NHS, academia, industry, patients and the public.

Key Findings

  • Health research and innovation benefit the NHS, patients, the economy and society and should be a core part of wider efforts to put the NHS on a more stable footing.
  • There are seven support mechanisms for mainstreaming research and innovation throughout the NHS to help achieve success in transformation efforts and secure a vision for what looks like in the future.
  • An empowered NHS workforce, with sufficient capacity to engage with and to drive research and innovation, is critical for achieving sustainable, high-quality, cost-effective healthcare.
  • Improved access to data, information and evidence is essential for ensuring best practice in NHS care and responding to unmet needs.
  • Upgrades to basic physical infrastructure, alongside investments in key high-tech facilities, are crucial for the NHS to provide safe care and for patients to access global scientific advances.
  • More strategic prioritisation of funding is crucial for reducing resource wastage and inefficient, ineffective care.
  • Efficient, robust and innovation-friendly R&D governance and regulation that ensures patient safety underpins the ability of research and innovation to translate into NHS, patient and economic benefits at scale.
  • Closer collaboration and coordination between local, regional and national bodies is pivotal for more efficient and effective progress with research and innovation and its translation into spread throughout the NHS.
  • Patient and public involvement, engagement and participation: Inclusive patient and public involvement, engagement and participation in research and innovation determine whether the UK population have a fair say in shaping what the NHS does and how.

Recommendations

  • A fourth shift to a research-and-innovation powered NHS must be a guiding principle of the future health service and the 10-Year Plan, with all actors empowered to help achieve it.
  • Prioritising actions in seven support mechanism areas will enable a feasible approach to translating research and innovation’s potential to support NHS reforms. These areas have to do with: a research-and-innovation-active workforce; information, evidence and data environments; physical infrastructure; funding, commissioning and procurement; R&D governance and regulation of innovation; collaboration and coordination of research and innovation activity; and patient and public involvement, engagement and participation, including considering inequalities.

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Marjanovic, Sonja, Zuzanna Marciniak-Nuqui, Hampton Toole, Stephanie Stockwell, Sarah Parkinson, Sorana Bucseneanu, Jonathan Grant, and Nick Fahy, From research to reality: Research and innovation in the NHS as key to enabling the 10-Year Plan, RAND Corporation, RR-A3808-1, 2025. As of April 30, 2025: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA3808-1.html

Chicago Manual of Style

Marjanovic, Sonja, Zuzanna Marciniak-Nuqui, Hampton Toole, Stephanie Stockwell, Sarah Parkinson, Sorana Bucseneanu, Jonathan Grant, and Nick Fahy, From research to reality: Research and innovation in the NHS as key to enabling the 10-Year Plan. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2025. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA3808-1.html.
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