Success stories

MeMed BV is an innovative diagnostic technology being implemented within the Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) service at Glenfield Hospital to help clinicians distinguish between bacterial and viral infections.

The technology provides a result in approximately 15 minutes, giving clinical teams additional information to support earlier treatment and discharge decisions. By helping clinicians understand whether an infection is more likely to be bacterial or viral, the technology also has the potential to support antimicrobial stewardship and reduce unnecessary antibiotic use.

The Health Innovation Hub identified an opportunity to support the introduction and evaluation of the technology within UHL, working alongside the clinical team and partners to understand its potential impact on patients, staff and hospital flow.

The Health Innovation Hub secured funding to introduce MeMed BV testing within Glenfield SDEC, enabling the clinical team to implement and evaluate the technology in a real-world NHS setting.

The project is now live, with the evaluation focusing on whether faster infection differentiation can support earlier clinical decision-making, reduce unnecessary admissions and length of stay, improve patient flow and strengthen antimicrobial stewardship.

Impact and benefits

The Health Innovation Hub has worked alongside the clinical team to move the project from an innovation opportunity into a funded, live evaluation.

Support has included:

• Securing funding to enable the project to proceed
• Supporting development of the business case and expected benefits
• Coordinating with clinical teams and partners to support implementation
• Establishing an evaluation approach to understand clinical, operational and financial impact
• Supporting communications and engagement to showcase the innovation
• Supporting the team to identify and develop further funding bids to continue the evaluation and enable potential future scale
• Exploring opportunities for wider adoption if the evaluation demonstrates value

Why it matters

The project demonstrates how targeted investment in diagnostic innovation can potentially deliver benefits across patient care, hospital flow and NHS resources.

If the evaluation demonstrates the anticipated impact, MeMed BV could support faster clinical decision-making, reduce avoidable hospital activity and strengthen antimicrobial stewardship.

University Hospitals of Leicester is using virtual reality technology to explore new approaches to clinical education and workforce development.

Oxford Medical Simulation (OMS) provides immersive virtual clinical scenarios that allow healthcare professionals to practise clinical decision-making and develop skills within a safe, simulated environment.

The platform provides access to more than 80 clinical scenarios and offers an opportunity to complement traditional education with flexible, repeatable simulation-based learning.

The Health Innovation Hub secured investment to introduce OMS Virtual Reality training at UHL, enabling the programme to be implemented and evaluated within the Trust.

The programme has now gone live and is open to resident doctors from across UHL, providing wider access to immersive simulation-based training and opportunities to practise a range of clinical scenarios in a safe learning environment.

Impact and benefits

The Health Innovation Hub has worked alongside the clinical team to move the project from an innovation proposal into a funded and live programme.

Support has included:

• Securing investment to enable the programme to proceed
• Supporting implementation and launch
• Supporting expansion of access to resident doctors across UHL
• Coordinating with clinical, education and innovation partners
• Supporting development of an evaluation approach to understand impact and value
• Connecting the project with Health Innovation East Midlands and academic partners
• Supporting communications and engagement to increase awareness and uptake
• Working with partners to explore further scale across UHL

Why it matters

The programme is now providing resident doctors across the Trust with access to immersive clinical simulation, creating additional opportunities to practise clinical decision-making and develop confidence in a safe learning environment.

Moving from an initial Emergency Department innovation to a programme available to resident doctors across UHL represents an important milestone for the project.

The Health Innovation Hub is working with partners to evaluate uptake, experience and impact and understand the potential for further scale across UHL.

i-IMPACT is a digital rehabilitation innovation developed at University Hospitals of Leicester to support patients undertaking cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation remotely.

The platform provides patients with an alternative way to access rehabilitation outside traditional face-to-face services, helping teams deliver more flexible and accessible care while supporting patients to manage their rehabilitation from home.

The project has progressed from a locally developed innovation towards wider NHS adoption, with the Health Innovation Hub supporting the regulatory, commercial and implementation pathway required for scale.

What we have achieved

i-IMPACT has successfully progressed beyond UHL and into the University Hospitals of Northamptonshire, demonstrating an important step towards wider NHS adoption.

The platform went live at Northampton General Hospital, with patients beginning to use the service as part of their rehabilitation pathway. Work has also progressed with Kettering General Hospital to support further rollout.

A major milestone has now been achieved with i-IMPACT securing MHRA approval, strengthening the regulatory foundations for the innovation.

Alongside this, significant progress has been made around quality management, implementation and commercial development.

Impact and benefits 

The Health Innovation Hub has worked alongside the i-IMPACT team and partners to help move the innovation towards a scalable and sustainable NHS product.

Support has included:

• Supporting wider adoption across University Hospitals of Northamptonshire
• Connecting the project with Health Innovation East Midlands for specialist innovation and commercialisation support
• Supporting the team through its regulatory pathway
• Supporting development of the Quality Management System with specialist partners
• Supporting alignment with relevant NICE requirements
• Working with partners to develop the commercial proposition, market strategy and investment case
• Connecting the innovators with NHS, academic, digital and commercial partners
• Helping identify and overcome barriers to wider adoption

Why it matters

The expansion of i-IMPACT beyond UHL, alongside achieving MHRA approval, represents a significant milestone for a locally developed NHS innovation.

The programme demonstrates the potential for digital rehabilitation to increase flexibility for patients, support more consistent access to rehabilitation and complement existing face-to-face pathways.

It also demonstrates how a UHL-developed innovation can progress through regulatory development and into adoption by another NHS organisation, creating a strong foundation for wider scale and commercialisation.

Paul Bird, Clinical Scientist, and Elinor Howcroft, Continence Lead Nurse at University Hospitals of Leicester, identified a clinical challenge affecting incontinent female patients who require urine sampling.

Drawing on their frontline experience, they developed an innovative, non-invasive approach to urine collection and established a collaborative partnership with BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) to evaluate and refine the technique through the RELIEF study, where they serve as Co-Principal Investigators.

The RELIEF study aims to evaluate a more dignified, less invasive and more reliable method of obtaining urine samples from women experiencing bladder control problems.

By reducing the need for urinary catheterisation solely to obtain a urine sample, the innovation has the potential to improve patient comfort and dignity, reduce catheter-associated complications and infection risk, and support faster diagnosis and treatment.

Impact and benefits

The project has secured significant external research funding to support the RELIEF study, enabling the team to progress the research and evaluation of the innovation.

A patent application has also been filed with the UK Intellectual Property Office on behalf of UHL, helping protect the intellectual property generated through the project and safeguard the Trust’s potential future commercial interests.

A collaborative relationship has also been established with BD, bringing together frontline NHS innovation and industry expertise to support the research and development of the approach.

How the Health Innovation Hub has supported the project

The Health Innovation Hub has played a key role in supporting the project, working with the innovators, the University of Leicester, BD and wider partners to progress the intellectual property and commercial pathway.

Support has included:

• Working in partnership with the University of Leicester to protect the intellectual property behind the innovation
• Supporting the project team and partners to progress the patent application
• Helping safeguard UHL’s potential future commercial interests
• Strengthening the strategic relationship with BD
• Connecting the project with Health Innovation East Midlands to support development of a commercialisation plan
• Bringing together clinical, academic, industry and innovation partners
• Supporting the pathway towards wider NHS adoption and potential future commercialisation

Why it matters

PureWick / RELIEF demonstrates how an idea developed by frontline UHL colleagues can progress into a funded research programme, protected intellectual property and industry collaboration.

It provides a strong example of how the Health Innovation Hub can connect frontline innovation with research, academia and industry while helping UHL protect the potential commercial value generated by its innovations.

JanamApp is a culturally sensitive, multilingual digital maternity health tool designed to improve perinatal outcomes for South Asian women. Developed in collaboration with Prof Angie Doshani University Hospitals of Leicester, and Health Innovation East Midlands, the app provides trusted, evidence-based maternity information in English and multiple South Asian languages. Its aim is to improve health literacy, strengthen communication between women and maternity teams, and reduce inequalities in access to care. 

The problem 

South Asian women face a 1.8× higher risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes compared to their white counterparts. This disparity is driven by a complex mix of factors, including late booking, missed antenatal appointments, physical and obstetric risk factors, and wider social determinants of health. A critical underlying issue is poor access to clear, understandable maternity information that reflects language needs and cultural context. 

Language barriers, cultural expectations, and hesitancy to question clinicians can lead to misunderstandings, reduced informed consent, and disengagement from care. The assumption that conversational English equates to full clinical understanding often results in gaps between information provided and information understood. Interpreter services are not always available or used consistently, and concerns around quality and medical terminology can further impact patient safety, as highlighted in national maternity safety reviews. Together, these issues place additional pressure on maternity services and contribute to avoidable risk and inequality. 

The solution 

JanamApp was developed to directly address these challenges. The app delivers culturally adapted, evidence-based maternity information in a clear, non-technical format, structured around the pregnancy journey. Content is designed around the lived experiences of South Asian women, helping them understand what to expect at each stage of pregnancy, why appointments and tests are important, and when to seek help. 

Key features include: 

• multilingual maternity guidance available 24/7 
• appointment reminders and clear explanations to reduce confusion 
• question prompts to help women prepare for consultations 
• guidance on recognising symptoms that may require earlier clinical review 

By reinforcing consistent clinical messages outside of appointments, JanamApp complements face-to-face care, reduces reliance on interpreter services for routine information, and supports shared decision-making. For clinicians, it provides a reliable, standardised way to communicate essential maternity information across language and cultural barriers. 

Impact and benefits 

JanamApp delivers measurable benefits for women, clinicians, and the wider health system: 

• improved communication and reduced inequalities through accessible, trusted information in South Asian languages 
• more confident, informed patients with improved health literacy and understanding of their care 
• earlier engagement and help-seeking, reducing anxiety and risk escalation 
• fewer missed appointments (DNAs) through reminders and clearer appointment information 
• reduced reliance on interpreter services, improving clinic flow and productivity 
• stronger informed consent and shared decision-making 
• lower clinical risk, with fewer misunderstandings and safer care 
• improved outcomes, including fewer emergencies, reduced admissions, and shorter lengths of stay 

Why it matters 

JanamApp demonstrates how culturally informed digital innovation can address entrenched health inequalities while also improving operational efficiency. By empowering women with clear, accessible information and supporting clinicians with consistent communication tools, JanamApp helps deliver safer, fairer maternity care and creates a scalable model for reducing disparities across the health system. 

HeyGen is an AI video-generation and translation platform that converts spoken video content into over 175 languages and dialects, accurately matching tone, voice, and mouth movements. University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust is piloting HeyGen to create multilingual patient information videos that improve understanding, inclusion, and engagement across Leicester’s highly diverse population.

The problem

Leicester is one of the most diverse cities in the UK, with around 95 languages spoken across the local population and up to 2% of residents speaking no English at all. Traditional written translation has limited impact, particularly for languages that are primarily spoken rather than read (for example, Somali).

Patient feedback collected across UHL services shows a growing preference for video-based information over paper leaflets, with video shown to improve comprehension for both English and non-English speakers. However, producing high-quality patient information videos in multiple languages has historically been slow, expensive, and difficult to scale, limiting equitable access to information.

The solution

UHL is piloting HeyGen to rapidly translate existing English-language patient videos into the top languages spoken across Leicester. The platform enables:

• human-like lip-sync and tone matching for translated content
• spoken-language delivery that reflects cultural context
• rapid creation of multiple language versions from a single source video

Videos are being tested through community focus groups and patient surveys to assess trust, clarity, accuracy, and cultural appropriateness. The results will be used to inform a business case for wider adoption across services.

Impact and benefits

• early use of HeyGen demonstrates strong potential to improve patient communication and operational efficiency:
• better appointment attendance and reduced DNAs, with videos explaining what appointments are for, what to expect, and how to attend
• increased uptake of screening programmes through clear, multilingual explanations
• positive behaviour change, by delivering accessible health messages
• improved patient experience, with culturally appropriate content in preferred formats
• reduced reliance on interpreter services, easing pressure on clinics and staff
• faster, more consistent information delivery at scale

Why it matters

HeyGen demonstrates how AI-enabled communication can improve health equity, patient experience, and service efficiency simultaneously. By delivering information in languages and formats that reflect Leicester’s diverse communities, UHL is creating a scalable and sustainable model for inclusive patient communication across the health system.

DESMOND (Diabetes Education and Self-Management for Ongoing and Newly Diagnosed) is a nationally evidence-based structured education programme for people with type 2 diabetes. Led by Melanie Davies, DESMOND was developed to support behaviour change, self-management, and improved clinical outcomes.

MyDESMOND is the digital evolution of the programme, enabling people with type 2 diabetes to access high-quality education and support anytime, anywhere, at scale.  

The problem 

People with type 2 diabetes often experience poor clinical outcomes linked to limited understanding of how to manage their condition effectively. This can lead to hyperglycaemia, increased risk of complications, and rising pressure on primary and secondary care services.

Prior to DESMOND, diabetes education across the NHS was inconsistent, with no nationally standardised, quality-assured programme to support newly diagnosed patients in developing the knowledge, confidence, and skills needed for long-term self-management. 

The solution 

DESMOND introduced the first national structured education programme for type 2 diabetes, shifting diabetes education from ad hoc advice to a reproducible, theoretically underpinned, evidence-based intervention. The programme is built around a six-hour, person-centred group curriculum, co-designed with people living with type 2 diabetes and delivered by trained healthcare staff who undergo quality assurance observations to ensure consistency, equity, and fidelity in delivery. 

The effectiveness of DESMOND was validated through the largest randomised controlled trial of structured diabetes education for newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes, involving 824 adults across 17 primary care sites in England and Scotland. Outcomes included improvements in illness beliefs, weight loss, physical activity, smoking reduction, and depression scores. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the DESMOND group programme was expanded to include resources, guidance and workshops designed to support trained Educators to deliver the programme via remote video conferencing tools. Naturally with the evolution of digital health tools, the team behind the award-winning group programme developed MyDESMOND, a digital translation that preserves the behavioural and educational principles of the group model while enabling remote, on-demand access. This transformation ensured continuity of education, expanded reach, and improved accessibility for diverse populations. 

Impact and benefits 

Clinical impact and self-management 

• significant reductions in HbA1c and improved self-management demonstrated in real-world settings 
• positive outcomes across multi-ethnic populations, including high engagement from South Asian communities 
• improved patient activation, confidence, and understanding of type 2 diabetes management 

Scale and workforce impact 

• 700,000+ people with type 2 diabetes supported since 2006 
• 2,500 healthcare staff trained to deliver DESMOND 
• Around 800 active educators across 95 organisations in the UK, Crown Dependencies and Ireland

Digital transformation and adoption 

• Group programmes adapted for virtual delivery
• 84 healthcare organisations currently offering MyDESMOND 
• Wales commissioned MyDESMOND as the sole national digital diabetes education programme 
• 65,043 registered MyDESMOND users (as of 13 March 2026)
• International adoption, including Australia, Mozambique, Ghana, and Malawi 

Patient experience and behaviour change 

• 65% increased physical activity 
• 79% improved diet 
• 87% improved understanding of type 2 diabetes 
• 92% of users would recommend MyDESMOND 

Adaptation and Translation

• Guidance and toolkit for group deliver for people with hearing loss and visual impairment
• Research study underway of an adapted group programme for people with type 2 diabetes and intellectual disabilities
• Refined group intervention for delivery to prison population
• Tailored group and digital programmes for people with early-onset type 2 diabetes (young adults 18-40 years old)
• Delivery with interpreters for linguistic and BSL translation
• Culturally inclusive resources and imagery
• Translation of programmes underpinning theory and philosophy in the development of interventions for:
  • Type 2 diabetes prevention (Let’s Prevent Diabetes, Walking Away from Diabetes, Babysteps)Specific at-risk workforces such as HGV, coach and bus drivers (SHIFT programme)
  • Ongoing support for those with prolonged hyperglycaemia (Injectable Therapies)

Why it matters 

DESMOND and MyDESMOND demonstrate how rigorous research, person-centred co-design, and digital innovation can deliver sustainable improvements in long-term condition management. By empowering people with type 2 diabetes to self-manage more effectively, the programme improves outcomes, reduces pressure on services, and provides a scalable model for delivering high-impact education across the NHS and beyond, and the basis for tailored and ongoing support and education for other long-term conditions and at-risk groups.

To find out more about our work visit:

www.desmond.nhs.uk or www.mydesmond.com

You can email us on: [email protected]

Activate Your Heart (AYH) is a digital cardiac rehabilitation programme developed and led by University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. The programme was designed to improve access, choice, and engagement in cardiac rehabilitation for people living with coronary heart disease, particularly those unable or unlikely to attend traditional hospital-based services. 

Activate Your Heart supports the NHS shift towards community-based, preventative, and digitally enabled care, offering a flexible alternative that empowers patients to self-manage their condition while remaining connected to clinical expertise. 

The challenge 

Uptake of cardiac rehabilitation across the NHS has historically been low. National data shows that only 41% of eligible patients participate in cardiac rehabilitation, with uptake falling to around 13% for people with heart failure. Traditional centre-based programmes do not reach everyone who could benefit, particularly women, younger patients, working-age adults, and people from ethnic minority backgrounds. 
Barriers include travel, work and caring responsibilities, confidence, and limited flexibility in programme delivery. At the same time, NHS policy increasingly emphasises moving care out of hospitals and into the community, creating an urgent need for scalable alternatives that maintain clinical quality while improving access and choice. 

The innovation

Activate Your Heart is a password-protected digital cardiac rehabilitation platform that enables patients to complete rehabilitation in their own time and environment. The programme provides a structured yet flexible model of care, aligned with national cardiac rehabilitation standards.

Key features include:

• a tailored six-week exercise programme 
• education on lifestyle change, risk factor reduction, and heart health 
• access to healthcare professionals through discussion forums, live chat, and email 
• support for shared decision-making and self-management 

The platform complements existing cardiac rehabilitation services, allowing patients to choose the pathway that best suits their circumstances rather than relying solely on hospital attendance.

To support implementation, staff received training on patient registration, content development, moderating online discussions, and responding to clinical queries, helping embed digital rehabilitation into routine practice. 

Early outcomes and impact

Initial implementation demonstrated strong patient engagement and clear added value:

• 68 patients completed the programme, with 90% reporting they would not have attended conventional cardiac rehabilitation 
• Improved patient confidence, engagement, and self-management 
• Increased staff confidence in delivering care through digital methods 
• Release of clinical capacity, enabling staff to focus more time on patients with complex rehabilitation needs 

Activate Your Heart became embedded into routine service delivery, with ongoing development and refinement of the platform. 

National recognition and scale 

In 2026, Activate Your Heart was licensed by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) under a new regulatory approach for evaluating digital health technologies. It was approved while several other digital cardiac rehabilitation platforms were not, reflecting the strength of its clinical model and evidence base. 
Activate Your Heart has now entered a three-year real-world NHS evaluation period, during which it will be used in routine clinical practice while further evidence is gathered on effectiveness, outcomes, and value for money. NICE has highlighted that early data across approved digital cardiac rehabilitation platforms is promising, with strong potential to significantly increase access for patients not well served by traditional models. 

Why it matters

Activate Your Heart aligns closely with the NHS 10-Year Health Plan, supporting: 
A shift from hospital-based to community and home-based care 
Improved prevention and long-term condition management 
Expansion of digital therapeutic interventions at scale 
By increasing access, choice, and flexibility in cardiac rehabilitation, Activate Your Heart demonstrates how digitally enabled care can improve outcomes, reduce inequalities, and support a more sustainable health system. 

It was also featured on the Health Service Journal (HSJ) website

Virtual wards remain a huge priority for the NHS and speaks directly to the government shift of moving care out of hospitals.

The virtual Atrial Fibrillation (AF) ward provides remote monitoring of patients who are haemodynamically (clinically) stable with a primary diagnosis of AF. Implementing this model aimed to speed up discharge, reduce the need for hospitalisation and reduce patient transfers between different hospital sites.

The challenge

AF is a heart condition that causes an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rate. This can cause a range of symptoms, including dizziness, shortness of breath and tiredness. Patients may be aware of noticeable heart palpitations, where the heart feels like it is pounding, fluttering or beating irregularly, often for a few seconds or, in some cases, a few minutes.

Sometimes AF does not cause any symptoms and a person who has it is completely unaware that their heart rate is irregular. AF is the most common heart rhythm disturbance, affecting around 1.4 million people in the UK.

AF can affect adults of any age, but it is more common in older people; it is also more common in men than in women. AF is more likely to occur in people with other conditions, such as high blood pressure (hypertension), atherosclerosis or a heart valve problem.

Several specialities may be involved with a patient with AF, which introduces the risk of consequential delays in care, readmissions or inappropriate follow-up plans.

The solution

Using the digital platform Dignio alongside dedicated clinical frameworks and processes, the virtual ward in Leicester enabled the management of patients’ symptoms, including lifestyle advice and patient education, outside the inpatient setting. An evaluation of the programme focused on areas such as the impact on the workforce, patient outcomes, wider impacts on the hospital trust and patient pathways and flow across inpatient, community or other discharge destinations.

Impact and outcomes

The evaluation of the programme in Leicester reported the following:

• each admission to the virtual ward saves approximately 2 hospital bed days per patient, particularly for patients who would otherwise have been admitted to inpatient care.
• based on the analysis of 146 patients who were suitable for the virtual ward but would have been admitted to traditional hospital care, the virtual ward saved an estimated 321 bed days over the course of a year.
• high levels of satisfaction were reported, with 100% positive ratings in the Friends and Family feedback. It was noted that the virtual ward improved family experiences due to reduced separation.
• staff reported that it frees up time for some clinical staff, provides more options for treatment and provides increased job satisfaction.

Innovation Insight webinar

We hosted Innovation Insights webinar, which provided insight into important considerations when conducting healthcare evaluations and the impacts. Featuring Prof. Andre Ng, Suzanne Armstrong and evaluators Niche Health Consulting.

Listen to the webinar via the Health Innovation East Midlands website

Health Innovation East Midlands awarded funding to evaluate a pilot project using Skin Analytics AI-Powered Teledermatology, at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. The project aimed to reduce unnecessary attendance within the acute hospitals and help to reduce waiting lists

The challenge

Dermatology services across England have experienced an extraordinary degree of strain due to the current demand surge with one in four individuals seeking consultation for skin, hair, or nail conditions each year. The COVID-19 pandemic caused approximately 30% fewer dermatology appointments during 2020/21 compared to the previous year. The post-pandemic influx of patient referrals continues to a challenge to the health systems with an increased patient load, rising case complexities.

Against this backdrop, the necessity for innovative solutions to enhance patient access to dermatology services has been acknowledged by several national and professional entities. Teledermatology, especially, has been widely endorsed as an effective method to expand service capacity and ensure equitable patient access to specialist care. An alternative is AI-Powered Teledermatology, which utilises AI technology for initial skin lesion assessment.

The solution

The project enabled patients to be referred to a community based clinical hub in one of four pilot sites. A healthcare professional captured images of the skin lesion which was instantaneously reviewed by the Skin Analytics solution called DERM. Patients who received a diagnosis of concern were referred onwards to a Dermatology Consultant. Lesions identified as benign were reviewed by a Skin Analytics dermatologist to either validate the discharge decision or refer for additional assessment.

The technology was being used in the Skin Cancer Two-week Pathway as part of a pilot to improve patient access to dermatology diagnostics and achieve the two-week-wait (2WW) cancer targets.

The evaluation of the pilot’s effectiveness used both qualitative and quantitative data, gathered through staff and patient surveys and existing data from UHL and Skin Analytics.

Impact and outcomes

• the evaluation confirmed that the solution led to a reduction in 2WW referrals, freeing up 1450 outpatient appointments. These appointments were made available to non-cancer patients. There was also a clinical time saving of 263 minutes per 100 patients.
• cost-benefit analysis of this pilot to date showed cost effectiveness during the pilot, with greater benefits if the programme is continued further. The analysis found that for each pound spent on the AI-Powered Teledermatology Pathway for 2WW Skin Cancer, the health system received £1.05 in benefits.
• 98% of patients surveyed would recommend the service to family and friends, and the majority (70%) did not feel that something was missing due to not seeing a doctor face-to-face.

It found that although some challenges remain with implementation and staff acceptability of the current model of delivery, there is the potential for this novel pathway to be cost-effective in the long-term and enable considerable benefits for Dermatology services, trust staff and the health system.

The study proposed several recommendations to enhance the programme’s benefits and ensure that longer-term cost-effectiveness is achieved.