NHS Cancer Programme Innovation Open Call Overview
In 2021, the NHS Cancer Programme at NHS England joined forces with SBRI Healthcare to identify and implement mature innovations into front-line NHS settings. This was to benefit patients by detecting cancer earlier and improving the efficiency of diagnostic services through the Innovation Open Call competition. To date, three rounds of the Innovation Open Call have been delivered with £40m invested in 21 projects, which you can read more about through the links below. Through the competition, 340 collaborations have been enabled, innovations have been brought to over 220,000 patients, and double the amount of private investment has been leveraged versus the amount invested.
In February 2026, NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care worked together to publish the Government’s National Cancer Plan for England. The National Cancer Plan sets ambitions for the next 10 years to make England a global leader in cancer care.
Two of the key ambitions are:
• The NHS will meet the Cancer Waiting Time (CTW) standards by 2029
• Three quarters of people diagnosed with cancer will be cancer-free, or living well with cancer after 5 years by 2035
Read about the awardees of NHS Cancer Programme Innovation Open Call 3
Read about the awardees of NHS Cancer Programme Innovation Open Call 2
Read about the awardees of NHS Cancer Programme Innovation Open Call 1
