Why NHS innovation stalls

The latest episode of Digital Health Unplugged explores what it takes to successfully scale innovation in the NHS and why so many startups fail. Unplugged host Jordan Sollof is joined by Mindy Simon, co-director of the NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA), an initiative to support promising health innovations to spread across the NHS, and NIA alumni Elina Naydenova, co-founder and chief executive of HealthTech startup Feebris, They share insights on how to move digital health solutions from pilot to system-wide adoption, including the single most important factor in determining whether an innovation will scale. Drawing on Feebris’ experience delivering AI-enabled virtual care across more than 250 sites, Naydenova describes her journey in the NHS as a startup founder, including an example where a procurement process took 13 months, while full deployment across multiple hospitals and clinical pathways took just six weeks. The NIA will launch its latest cohort of fellows at Digital Health Rewired 2026, showcasing new health technologies and featuring 24 quick-fire pitches from the new fellows. Rewired 2026 takes place on 24-25 March at the NEC Birmingham. Register here. Guests: Mindy Simon, co-director at the NHS Innovation Accelerator Elina Naydenova, co-founder and chief executive of Feebris