The Accelerated Access Collaborative has released a report on the impact of innovation on the NHS titled “Our Year in Focus 2019/20”. The AAC is hosted by NHS England and NHS Improvement, bringing together industry, government, regulators, patients and the NHS to remove barriers and accelerate the introduction of ground-breaking new treatments and diagnostics which can transform care. The AAC supports all types of innovations: medicines, diagnostics, devices, digital products, pathway changes and new workforce models.

Key messages within the report include a finding that over 700,000 patients were able to access proven innovations which were supported by the AAC in this timeframe. As a result, there were an estimated more than 12,000 fewer hospital admissions and 125,000 fewer days spent in hospital. Over 2,500 innovators were supported by the AAC in order to bolster the UK’s leading position as one of the world’s most pro-innovation health systems.  

The NHS has been able to save over £50million thanks to the introduction of AAC programmes. Over the course of its first year of operation with its expanded remit, these programmes received over £450million of investment and led to the creation of safeguarding of over 1,500 jobs. The agility of the AAC was demonstrated early on during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Platform’s capacity for stakeholder engagement and horizon scanning allowed it to contribute to the innovation of COVID-19 therapeutics. Three treatments were contributed to by the AAC which swiftly became available to NHS patients, two more have followed suit since then.

The AAC remains committed to the rapid uptake of life-changing innovations into the UK healthcare ecosystem and ensuring the NHS is an innovation-friendly space that capitalizes on opportunities for advancement and saving lives.