Imperial College Health Partners’ 2025/26 Impact Report highlights how focused partnership across North West London is helping innovation move from promising idea to practical impact.
The report brings together nine stories across three themes: testing and scaling, data and real-world evidence, and partnerships. Together, they show what can be achieved when NHS, local authority, academic, voluntary sector, industry and community partners work around shared priorities, sustained over time.
This year’s report is deliberately selective – it focuses on the work that has moved furthest, reached most people, and generated evidence or momentum beyond North West London. It also reflects honestly on the conditions needed for innovation to succeed, including sustained partnership, good evidence, clearer routes from testing to adoption, and the operating models needed to embed lasting change.
Highlights from the year include North West London being named the best-performing region in England for hypertension, with the Clinical Effectiveness Group a significant contributor nine months after going live; the London Secure Data Environment becoming operational from 1 April 2026 for more than 10 million people; and OPTICA at Hillingdon Hospital reducing unnecessary bed days by 23%, with implementation tools now available for other trusts using the NHS Federated Data Platform.
The report also shares work on neurodevelopmental support for children and young people, patient safety, maternity and neonatal care, cardio-renal-metabolic health, industry partnership, obesity, and the role of real-world evidence in supporting better decisions for patients, communities and services.
The report closes by setting out ICHP’s new three-year strategy and MissionsPlus operating model. This brings together three continuing missions, focused on cardio-renal-metabolic conditions, children and young people’s mental health, and obesity, alongside four commissionable service lines in real-world evidence, qualitative insights, evaluation and service transformation.
Together, the stories in this year’s report demonstrate that innovation works best when it is grounded in real system need, shaped with the people it’s designed to support, and delivered through partnerships with patience and focus to turn evidence into adoption.
