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How to successfully bring digital therapeutics to the NHS

Digital therapeutics (DTx) are transforming healthcare by offering innovative, scalable solutions to treat and manage diseases. They align closely with the anticipated NHS 10-Year Plan’s goals for digital transformation, prevention and community care, as well as the Darzi Report’s emphasis on technology to enhance outcomes, empower patients and alleviate system pressures.

From addressing mental health to managing chronic conditions like diabetes, digital therapeutics offer evidence-based interventions that expand access to strained services. However, securing adoption and integrating these solutions into the NHS remains a complex challenge.

As experts recently quoted in a series of articles in The Guardian on the difficulties of bringing digital therapeutics to market, we understand the intricacies of this topical subject. This article explores what digital therapeutics are, the barriers innovators face, and strategies to successfully bring these innovations to market.

Contents

What are digital therapeutics?
Why do digital therapeutics developers find accessing the NHS challenging?
Top tips for bringing digital therapeutics to the NHS
How we can help

What are digital therapeutics?

Digital therapeutics are a subset of digital health that deliver therapeutic interventions via software programmes. These interventions are often backed by rigorous clinical evidence and designed to prevent, manage or treat medical conditions. Examples include apps that provide cognitive behavioural therapy for depression, platforms to manage diabetes, and virtual reality-based tools for pain management.

Unlike wellness apps, digital therapeutics require regulatory approval, as they are held to the same clinical and quality standards as traditional medical therapies. This ensures safety, efficacy and proper integration into healthcare systems.

Why do digital therapeutics developers find accessing the NHS challenging?

The NHS offers immense potential for scaling digital therapeutics, but its complexity can hinder even the most promising solutions. Common challenges include:

  1. Opaque Funding Structures: It’s often unclear who the payer and the beneficiary will be —Integrated Care Boards, NHS Trusts, or national commissioners—leading to inconsistent reimbursement and adoption.
  2. Fragmented Decision-Making: Navigating national strategies alongside regional and local provision of services requires engaging a huge and complex array of stakeholders with varying priorities and approval processes.
  3. Cultural Resistance: Risk-averse attitudes and reluctance to change established workflows can slow the adoption of innovative digital tools.
  4. Limited Evaluation Capacity: Overburdened clinical sites often lack the capacity to trial or evaluate new technologies, delaying evidence generation.
  5. Misalignment with Pathways: The NHS focuses on integrated care pathways, so digital therapeutics addressing isolated problems may struggle to demonstrate impact on wider pathways.

Top tips for bringing digital therapeutics to the NHS

Digital therapeutics are redefining healthcare by offering software-based interventions that manage, treat, or even prevent medical conditions. However, the journey from innovation to integration within the NHS is not without its hurdles. Success depends on understanding and navigating a range of critical factors, from evidence generation to procurement frameworks.

Here are our top tips to help innovators and industry unlock the potential of the NHS for their digital therapeutics.

1. Build a solid evidence base

No matter how innovative your solution, without robust evidence, adoption within the NHS will be an uphill battle. You need to demonstrate that your digital therapeutic is safe, effective and provides value. Start by collaborating with clinicians to design clinical trials that meet both regulatory and payer expectations. Beyond trials, real-world evidence showing how your solution performs in practice can be the clincher for payers and healthcare professionals alike.

We collaborated with Big Health on a wide-scale evaluation of a digital therapeutic. Sleepio, a digital cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) programme for insomnia was made available across the Thames Valley region with over 13,000 people starting to use the personalised online programme. This led to significant improvements in sleep duration and mental health outcomes and was instrumental in demonstrating Sleepio’s effectiveness and cost-efficiency, ultimately contributing to its recommendation by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as a clinically effective and cost-saving option for treating insomnia. Find out more about our work on Sleepio.

2. Understand NHS funding and reimbursement models

Knowing who pays for your digital therapeutic is essential. The NHS operates on a complex web of national and local commissioning structures, and aligning your product with these frameworks is key. Work with payers early to understand where your solution fits—be it through traditional reimbursement routes or innovative value-based care models.

We are supporting Safer Birth with actively engaging with NHS stakeholders to explore willingness to pay and reimbursement pathways for its digital clinical decision support tool, Fit4Labour, focused on maternal care. By collaborating with payers and aligning with NHS commissioning frameworks, Safer Birth is proactively addressing key considerations such as pricing, funding mechanisms, and decision-making criteria, ensuring that its digital health innovation is both financially sustainable and operationally scalable within the NHS ecosystem.

3. Engage patients and build advocacy networks

Your digital therapeutic needs champions—both clinical and patient advocates. Clinical champions can help integrate your solution into care pathways, while patient involvement ensures your product addresses real-world needs. Engaging these stakeholders early not only improves your design but also builds trust, smoothing the path to adoption.

Our Community Involvement and Workforce Innovation (CIWI) team helps innovators engage patients and healthcare staff to ensure digital therapeutics address real-world needs. By facilitating co-design workshops, gathering insights and evaluating impact, we help build trust and advocacy networks, ensuring your solution aligns with the priorities of those who will use and benefit from it.

4. Craft a commercial strategy that enables scaling up

A winning commercial strategy for DTx in the NHS is built on three pillars: alignment, evidence, and scalability. Start by aligning your solution with NHS priorities, such as National or Integrated Care Board (ICB) needs, workforce challenges, waiting list issues or perhaps addressing health inequalities. Identify where your product fits within NHS procurement pathways, ensuring you meet critical frameworks like NHS DTAC and NICE Evidence Standards for Digital Health Technologies. These provide a foundation of trust, enabling smoother adoption across NHS services.

Evidence is your entry ticket. Develop robust real-world data and health economic analyses that clearly demonstrate your solution’s impact on patient outcomes, cost savings, and operational efficiency. To scale effectively, tailor your pricing models to NHS financial realities—consider subscription-based pricing, risk-sharing agreements, or reimbursement pathways. Build in mechanisms for local customisation while maintaining operational consistency. Engage with decision-makers early and leverage partnerships with NHS organisations to navigate complexity, gain traction, and ultimately scale nationally.

Find out we how provide innovator support to help to you navigate the complexities of the NHS.

5. Plan for adoption, not just launch

Bringing a digital therapeutic to market is only the beginning. To achieve long-term impact, your solution needs to integrate seamlessly into clinical workflows and prove its value over time. Focus on pathway integration rather than promoting your product as a stand-alone solution. Provide healthcare providers with training and educational resources, and invest in marketing to raise awareness.

Find out how we’ve supported the adoption of mechanical thrombectomy for stroke care, improving outcomes through pathway integration and increased access.

6. Navigating NHS procurement for digital therapeutics

Introducing a digital therapeutic into the NHS requires navigating its complex procurement landscape. Engage early with Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and procurement teams to understand commissioning needs and explore processes and frameworks. Ensure your solution meets NHS Digital Technology Assessment Criteria (DTAC) to demonstrate compliance and readiness. Embrace Value-Based Procurement (VBP), focusing on reducing total care pathway costs while improving patient outcomes. By aligning with these principles, you position your solution as both cost-effective and a strategic partner for NHS priorities.

Access our toolkit for innovators to learn more.

7. Align with sustainability goals

Environmental sustainability is increasingly a priority for NHS decision-makers. Demonstrating how your digital therapeutic supports Net Zero goals can give you an edge. Analyse your product’s carbon footprint and communicate how it contributes to long-term sustainability in healthcare delivery.

Access our Net Zero guide for innovators.

8. Leverage support from the ecosystem

You don’t have to navigate the NHS alone. Many organisations within the research and innovation infrastructure provide support through expertise, connections and resources. They can help innovators to overcome challenges, secure funding and accelerate adoption.

Health Innovation Networks such as ourselves act as a bridge between industry and the health sector, leveraging their deep knowledge of local systems and contacts to open doors that might otherwise remain closed. Our work with Big Health to introduce the digital therapeutic Sleepio demonstrates the importance of creating a shared understanding between innovators and the NHS, addressing systemic barriers before focusing on specific solutions.

How we can help

At HIOTV, we specialise in guiding innovators through the complexities of the NHS. From generating clinical evidence to navigating reimbursement and sustainability challenges, our expertise might be able to help de-risk your go-to market strategy.

Whether you’re designing your first evaluation or scaling your solution nationwide, we can connect you with the right partners, provide strategic advice and help you deliver transformative care to patients.

Contact us today to explore how we can accelerate your journey to NHS adoption.

info@healthinnovationoxford.org

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