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We are shaping an efficient, equitable, and sustainable future for health. Our mission is to scale evidence-based digital health transformation, bridging the gap between research and clinical impact. We convene clinicians, patients, leaders, and industry partners from across the world to share what works.

This month: Meet our next-gen advisors and delve into research on how to adopt innovation.

Community spotlight:
Meet our future generation committee

Our new future generation committee brings together seven next generation leaders from across the healthcare ecosystem: from building companies to working in the NHS and at a major advisory firm. They are helping with our London event on 6-7 November 2025, ensuring that it is filled with new perspectives. Thank you Adam Wright, Alice McGee, Anirudh Kumar, Lincoln Gombedza, Meenakshi Jhala, Rand Intabli, and Will Waldock for your support. 

Ask our researcher: Fiona Mckenzie on the unexpected drivers of innovation

Original Research: Facilitating innovation in healthcare: insights from the front-line of adoption.

A recent study published in BMJ Innovations examined the factors that drive the adoption and scaling of innovation within the NHS. The researchers, based in the United Kingdom, interviewed staff who facilitate innovation, a perspective often missing from existing literature. 

The study found that adoption relies on structural and financial enablers — such as protected funding, leadership alignment and streamlined processes — rather than individual factors like 'champions' or training. The paper challenges common assumptions and provides practical insights for improving innovation support in publicly funded healthcare. 

The study is part of the NHS InSites Programme, a pilot initiative within the The NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme (CEP), designed to test and evaluate innovations in real-world NHS settings. 

• Why should readers pay attention?  
  This paper draws on the practical experiences of staff who facilitate innovation adoption in the NHS. It shows that ring-fenced funding, a clear innovation need, demonstrable impact, and broad stakeholder support carry greater weight for adopters than commonly cited individual-level factors. The findings offer lessons for health systems worldwide seeking to embed innovation, whether digital health, AI, or beyond.
• What are the limitations?
  These findings reflect the experiences of a small group of NHS innovation staff, and a survey design with limited depth. Whilst rooted in the NHS context, they highlight enablers of digital innovation adoption that are likely to resonate across other publicly funded systems.
• Next steps? 
  The InSites programme continues to strengthen capacity, culture, and processes for adopting medtech, developing practical tools to help adopters embed change locally, while influencing wider system approaches.

From across the BMJ Group

Here's a look at some of the latest from the BMJ Group:

Features, analysis & editorials

• Unintended consequences of using ambient scribes in general practice (The BMJ) 
• Innovative technologies for asthma and COPD management in the community: scanning the horizon using rapid systematic review methods (BMJ Innovations)

• Impact of the Flo Cycle Tracking App on menstrual knowledge and health in low-income and middle-income countries: a longitudinal study (BMJ Public Health)
• Can generative AI assess PTSD? A clinical validation study of transcribed and direct audio input modalities (BMJ Digital Health & AI)
• Smartphone barrier: uncovering the digital divide in mHealth prevention among disadvantaged middle-aged and older-aged UK communities (BMJ Digital Health & AI)

Open call for digital health and AI papers

• Can Machines Reason? Decoding Clinical Reasoning in AI Systems (BMJ Digital Health & AI) Deadline: January 16th 2026
  AI is rapidly changing how we think about clinical decision support, but we need to understand its inner workings to build systems we can trust. Most evaluations focus only on the final answer, ignoring how the AI arrived at its conclusion or where its reasoning failed in complex situations. To create dependable AI systems for healthcare, we need to open the black box.
• Innovations and Ethical Implications in AI-Powered Mental Health Care (BMJ Mental Health) Deadline: January 28th 2026
  The rapid integration of AI into mental health care is transforming how we diagnose, treat, and support patients. It offers new ways to increase accessibility, efficiency, and precision in a field that's often stretched thin. However, as AI technology accelerates, it also brings complex ethical questions to the forefront such as data privacy and algorithm bias.
• Abortion in a Digital World (BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health) Deadline: February 19th 2026 
  The use of digital tools and technology in abortion care is a rapidly evolving field, offering new ways for people to access information, medicine, and support. However, this progress also raises significant concerns about patient privacy and safety. The BMJ Group is putting together a special collection of papers to explore all aspects of digital data and telecommunication technologies in relation to abortion.

         If you're a researcher, explore our full calls for papers. 

Webinars

Join us for the upcoming webinar: "Digital leadership in the NHS: How to develop a coherent digital health strategy for your organisation" on Wednesday 24 September, 12:00 - 13:00 BST. 

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