MHRA and Manchester NHS partner to bring safe healthcare innovations to patients sooner

Patients in Manchester, UK, could benefit from earlier diagnosis, more personalized care and faster access to proven new technologies under a major new partnership that will test promising innovations in real NHS settings.

The partnership brings together the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), building on the MHRA’s wider use of regulatory sandboxes to support safe innovation and accelerate patient benefit.

As the first major program under the partnership, a new Manchester Sandbox will allow innovative technologies to be deployed and tested in NHS settings, generating evidence safely on how they perform with patients and clinicians in their day-to-day practice.

Working with MFT, the program aims to rapidly evaluate healthcare solutions that can improve patient care and safety, reduce pressure on NHS services and support wider adoption of technologies that work. This collaboration provides the opportunity to test proportionate, lifecycle based regulatory approaches fit for the current and future needs of the healthcare system.

The first technologies are expected to include AI-enabled medical devices, such as tools that can identify patients at higher risk of complications from long-term conditions, enabling earlier support and treatment.

Learning from the program will be shared across the NHS and could help inform how effective new technologies are introduced in other parts of the country, supporting wider access to innovation for patients.

New healthcare technologies often show potential in development, but proving they work in real healthcare settings is critical, so patients can benefit from them. The Manchester Sandbox has been created to address this challenge, bringing together healthcare providers, regulators and innovators earlier in the process.

Regulatory sandboxes are a key part of the MHRA’s approach to enabling safe innovation for patients. By deploying and testing technologies in real healthcare settings, with appropriate oversight and guardrails, the program will generate practical evidence on their ongoing safety, effectiveness and impact. This will help the NHS make more informed decisions about which innovations best meet the needs of their patients in practice and deploy those technologies faster. It will also help developers better understand the evidence needed for wider NHS use.

Manchester is increasingly recognized as one of the UK’s leading systems for health innovation, combining one of the country’s largest NHS trusts with world-class research expertise, advanced digital capabilities and a growing AI sector.

The program builds on long-standing collaboration between the NHS, universities, innovators and regulators across the region, further strengthening Manchester’s position as an attractive destination for health research, development and investment.

Local leaders joined representatives from the MHRA and Manchester University NHS Foundation today at the launch of the partnership, held at MFT’s Oxford Road Campus in the centre of the city, and one of the largest academic health campuses in Europe. The event included demonstrations of emerging technologies, including wearable products and AI-powered Ambient Voice Technology products that are already supporting earlier intervention and improved patient care.

MFT and MHRA will convene a roundtable later this year, bringing together the regulator, healthcare providers, innovators, researchers, and patient and public representatives to explore future opportunities of the program and help shape the next wave of projects.

The MHRA will also invite expressions of interest from medical device developers interested in taking part in the next phase of the program.

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