Every day, the NHS is challenged to innovate. We ask how we can improve outcomes, reduce inequalities, deliver care closer to home and make the best use of increasingly stretched resources. We invest in new technologies, support research and encourage fresh thinking.
But there is one question we ask far less often, who gets the opportunity to design those solutions in the first place?
Because who gets to innovate ultimately determines what gets innovated. When the people designing our technologies, services and healthcare pathways don't reflect the people using them, we risk creating solutions that unintentionally leave people behind. This isn't simply a diversity issue, it's an innovation issue.
The evidence is compelling, women spend around 25% more of their lives in poor health than men, despite living longer, creating avoidable consequences for individuals, health systems and economies alike. The World Economic Forum and McKinsey Health Institute estimate closing the women's health gap could contribute at least US$1trn annually to the global economy by 2040 through improved health and participation (McKinsey, 2024). Yet medical research has historically centred on men, women remain underrepresented across many areas of health innovation, and despite growing awareness, female-founded businesses continue to receive a disproportionately small share of venture capital investment in the UK, a pattern that has remained remarkably persistent over the last decade (British Business Bank, 2025).
These statistics matter. But for me, they tell only part of the story. Behind every statistic is a person whose experience has not been fully understood, a problem that has not yet been solved, or an idea that never had the opportunity to flourish.
I often get asked why this work matters so much to me, the answer is personal but one I often seen reflected time and time again. Growing up, I experienced first-hand how inequality can shape health, opportunity and life chances. Later, losing my mum to ovarian cancer reinforced something I have carried throughout my career: behind every statistic is a family and a future that could have looked very different. It is one of the reasons I believe so strongly that innovation should never be shaped by a privileged few. The best ideas come from diverse experiences and healthcare is strongest when everyone has the opportunity to contribute.
That belief has shaped much of my work at Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber. Through our Women in Health Innovation & Technology (WHIT) programme, we've spent the last two years listening to female innovators, entrepreneurs, clinicians, researchers and partners across the innovation ecosystem. We began by asking a simple question, what prevents talented people from turning great ideas into innovations that improve health and care? The answers were remarkably consistent.
Women described limited access to networks, funding, mentors and early opportunities. More importantly, many questioned whether they belonged in innovation at all. What became increasingly clear was the issue wasn't a lack of talent, it was a lack of access.
That learning led to our Empowered by Innovation event, bringing together NHS leaders, investors, entrepreneurs, academia and industry to identify practical actions rather than simply revisit familiar challenges. It also informed the creation of WHIT: Springboard, developed in collaboration with Amazon Web Services and Nexus, University of Leeds, to support women at the earliest stages of innovation, often before they have a product, investment or even the confidence to call themselves an innovator.
That early intervention matters, traditional accelerator programmes play a vital role, but many understandably focus on innovators who already have a developed proposition. We wanted to support those who may otherwise never reach that stage and the results have been incredibly encouraging.
Participants have progressed into mentoring relationships, further accelerator programmes, strategic partnerships and national opportunities. Just as importantly, they left with something that is far harder to measure but equally important, confidence to progress.
Watching someone move from saying, ‘It's just an idea,' to confidently presenting a solution capable of improving lives is one of the most rewarding parts of my role, but Springboard is only one part of a much bigger picture.
Across Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber, we're working hard to build a connected innovation ecosystem rather than isolated programmes. Through Propel HealthTech, the Female Founders Forum, our support for the Women's Health Venture Builder and wider women's health initiatives, we're helping create clearer pathways that enable innovators to progress from idea to implementation.
While there are natural synergies with women's health, I feel strongly this conversation must extend far beyond it. Women should be designing innovations across every clinical speciality, every technology and every aspect of health and care, not only those traditionally associated with women's health.
Representation isn't about designing better innovations for women, it's about designing better innovations for everyone and the NHS cannot afford to overlook half of its innovation potential.
Healthcare challenges are becoming more complex. We need more perspectives, more creativity and more people bringing different experiences to the table. When we widen access to innovation, we don't simply improve fairness; we improve the quality of the ideas entering the system.
We often talk about innovation as though it begins with technology, this is simply not the case. Innovation begins with people, and their different experiences, different perspectives and different questions.
When we widen who gets to innovate, we don't simply create opportunities for individuals. We create better ideas, more inclusive solutions and ultimately better care for the people and communities we serve.
