Manchester launches NHS-MHRA sandbox to fast-track health tech innovation
The programme is the first major initiative under a partnership between the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT).
Innovative technologies will be deployed and tested in real NHS settings, generating evidence on how they perform with patients and clinicians in day-to-day practice.
The programme aims to assess healthcare technologies that could improve patient care and safety, reduce pressure on NHS services and support wider adoption where they prove effective.
The first technologies are expected to include AI-enabled medical devices, such as tools designed to identify patients at higher risk of complications from long-term conditions so that support and treatment can be offered earlier.
Regulatory sandboxes allow technologies to be deployed and tested in real healthcare settings with appropriate oversight and safeguards, while evidence is gathered on their safety, effectiveness and impact.
Evidence from the Manchester programme could help the NHS make more informed decisions about which technologies meet patient needs and give developers a clearer understanding of the evidence required for wider NHS use.
Learning from the programme will also be shared across the NHS and could inform how effective technologies are introduced elsewhere in the country.
The partnership builds on the MHRA’s wider use of regulatory sandboxes to support safe innovation and accelerate patient benefit.
Local leaders joined representatives from the MHRA and MFT at the launch at MFT’s Oxford Road Campus in Manchester, where emerging technologies including wearable products and AI-powered Ambient Voice Technology products were demonstrated.
MFT and the MHRA plan to hold a roundtable later this year involving regulators, healthcare providers, innovators, researchers and patient and public representatives to explore future opportunities and help shape the next wave of projects.
The MHRA will also invite expressions of interest from medical device developers interested in participating in the next phase.
Lawrence Tallon, chief executive of the MHRA, said: “AI and other emerging technologies have enormous potential to improve patient care. The challenge is understanding how they work in practice and where they can make the biggest difference.
“Manchester brings together the NHS, innovators, researchers and regulators to do exactly that. The learning from this programme could help shape how safe and effective technologies are introduced across the country, helping more patients benefit from innovation.”
Mark Cubbon, chief executive of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Patients should benefit from innovation as quickly as possible, but they should never have to choose between access and safety.
“This partnership brings together key partners earlier in the process so we can understand what works and how new technologies perform in real healthcare settings.
“By creating a clearer route from innovation to safe adoption, we can help people gain faster access to developments that have the potential to improve care, while maintaining the high standards of safety that patients rightly expect.
“The learning we generate here at MFT could help shape how effective innovations are adopted across the wider NHS, and we are excited to share it more widely at the right time.”
