Notice

Healthcare Goals Objectives and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Updated 6 August 2026

Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Goals

Objective

The Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Goals will realise a new generation of precision dementia therapies and solutions for the UK – by accelerating innovations in biomarkers, clinical trials and implementation.

KPIs

1. Support the establishment of ‘The BARBARA Alliance’ as a public-private partnership – a new independent entity with co-investment from industry and health foundation partners (Founding Partners) and matched funding from government. This will have a Trustee Board, Scientific and Health Informatics Steering Committee, and a lean executive to scope, tender and run a portfolio of projects to support the Dementia Goals’ objectives which will unlock the challenges faced by industry and the research and clinical community in developing and implementing novel treatments and diagnostics.

2. Reduce screen failure rates from around 80+% to 50% and significantly increase participation rates in commercial clinical trials (to meet the needs of future late phase trials) in the UK by:

2.a. Bringing to practice 5 clinically validated experimental wet or digital biomarker tools, with regulator, payer, and healthcare user input, through strategic investments into biomarker validation and implementation studies.

2.b. Establishing a virtual, national dynamic dementia registry to build a cohort of pre-screened, pre-consented and pre-engaged people who are stratified using the latest biomarkers and other health data, ready to be rapidly recruited into large scale clinical trials, real world evidence studies and implementation studies.  

3. Increase engagement with and support of strategic health system partner challenges around regulation and implementation of novel biomarker innovations and treatments, enabling the delivery of implementation and feasibility studies, and adoption of innovations.

Cancer Healthcare Goals

Objective

The Cancer Healthcare Goals aims to maximise and direct global industrial investment for the development and acceleration of new cancer diagnostic and therapeutic technologies and devices in the UK through:

1) Providing research investments to support the development of innovations in the early stages of the development pathway.

2) Supporting industry to accelerate cancer diagnostic and therapeutic technologies and devices in the latter stages of development into the NHS.

KPIs

Early Diagnosis

The Cancer Healthcare Goals programme will partner with industry to advance the development of new cancer diagnostic technologies at Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) 3-7 to enable earlier, faster cancer diagnosis (prioritising less common cancers to address a market failure in this area), accelerating patient access to innovation:

1. By 2028, we will be funding at least 10 industry early diagnosis technology development (TRLs 3-7) projects for cancer (particularly for less common cancers), incentivising industry engagement in this area and improving outcomes for cancer patients who experience worse outcomes based on their cancer type (e.g. brain, ovarian and pancreatic).

2. By 2030, we will have increased the UK’s investment in clinical study in the early diagnosis of less common cancers*, maximising the benefit of innovative new cancer diagnostics to patients, the NHS and the UK economy. We will achieve this through the Cancer Healthcare Goals’ alliance-building investments and support for cross-sector partnerships to successfully address the gap in the market and drive-up early diagnosis rates for these cancers.

*subject to change

Cancer Technology Acceleration Fund (CTAF)

The Cancer Healthcare Goals programme will support industry to accelerate cancer diagnostic and therapeutic technologies and devices into the NHS by connecting innovators with stakeholders across the cancer research landscape and funding the necessary technology evaluations:​

1. By 2026, we will fund two interventional studies which will act as use cases for innovative delivery models to support late-stage development and evidence generation.

2. During 2027-2028, we will accelerate the evaluation of diagnostic and therapeutic technologies identified as research priorities in the National Cancer Plan by supporting a minimum of 5 multi-centre research programmes. This will support innovations at TRLs 6-8 to assess their effectiveness and impact within operational environments*.

3. By 2030, the Programme will help achieve the ambitions of the 10-Year Health Plan, Life Sciences Sector Plan and National Cancer Plan by supporting one breakthrough cancer technology to undergo a NICE-prioritised technology appraisal.

*Our funded technology evaluation research programmes will produce an evidence base to support commissioning of the innovations into the NHS.

Obesity Healthcare Goals

Objective

The Obesity Healthcare Goals aims to maximise and direct global industrial investment for obesity innovation into the UK, through; bespoke partnerships, research investments and the development of pioneering and internationally replicable models of clinically and cost-effective models of care.

KPIs

1. By 2029, supporting at least two major industrial studies in the UK, trialling new obesity medicines through a new clinical trial platform, funded and delivered by the NIHR.

2. By 2029, at least 10 new sites across the UK will have supported patients to access treatment demonstrating new, innovative service models of care which are safe, effective and cheaper on a cost-per-patient basis compared against current care models. Working in partnership with industry, as part of the wider £279m investment announcement by Eli Lilly, we will generate evidence that is designed to be useful to NICE in its assessment for obesity services and models of care.

3. By 2030, support up to 2,500 patients living with obesity in Scotland’s most deprived communities and evaluate the impact of treatment on healthcare utilisation, quality of life, employment and obesity-related health outcomes.

Addiction Healthcare Goals

Objective

The Addiction Healthcare Goals (AHG) is aiming to make the UK a globally leading location for industry and researchers to partner with NHS and third-sector treatment providers to develop, trial and deploy innovative drug and alcohol addiction treatments and healthcare technologies to transform care and recovery, reduce harms, save lives, and benefit society.

KPIs

1. Catalysing Innovation Goal

Through delivery of the AHG £20m Catalysing Innovation Awards, our goal is to support the technological development and market readiness of innovative pharmaceutical, MedTech and digital approaches for improving treatment outcomes, enhancing recovery and reducing drug deaths.

We aim to advance promising technologies to be ready for market rollout and impact, while in parallel fostering the development of future technologies by early-stage companies and researchers in the UK.

We are delivering this goal through initiatives focused on both intermediate and advanced development of technologies with the below associated KPI targets:

1.1.     Intermediate development:

By 2029, we aim for at least 1 pharmaceutical and 3 MedTech or digital innovations to have demonstrated early efficacy and UK market fit.

To deliver this KPI, funded technologies are expected to achieve the below metrics by the end of the funded projects:

i. Reaching Technology Readiness Level 6 or 7 (TRL-6/7)

ii.          Established user acceptability

iii.         Demonstrated practicality in relevant real-world settings

iv.         Completed a business model/plan

v.           Identified a clear pathway for securing intellectual property (IP) and necessary regulatory and certification requirements

1.2 Advanced development:

By 2030, we aim for at least 2 innovations (MedTech, digital or pharmaceutical) to have robustly demonstrated real-world efficacy and UK market readiness.

To deliver this KPI, funded technologies are expected to achieve the below metrics by the end of the funded projects:

i.          Reaching TRL-8/9

ii.          Having necessary regulatory approvals and certification in place or in train

iii.         Completed full market readiness analysis

iv.         Established plans for manufacturing and UK rollout

2. Transforming the Research Ecosystem Goal

Our goal is to create a pioneering, UK-wide, capability within Third Sector and NHS treatment providers, the criminal justice system and other relevant services, to evaluate, trial, and deploy innovative addiction treatments and healthcare technologies through the below KPI targets.

2.1      Strengthening research leadership across the UK:

Through delivery of the £10m+ AHG Research Leadership Programme, we aim by 2027, have enabled a multidisciplinary cadre of 100 individuals across the UK to commence or continue their career development to becoming national research leaders able to deliver innovative drug and alcohol addiction treatment and recovery research studies, and act as pioneers for the integration of research outputs into clinical practice.

Within this we will aim to support:

• At least 25 individuals to advance towards national research leadership through PhDs, post-doctoral fellowships and leadership development.
• At least 75 individuals to take early steps towards a career in research through MSc and early-stage research career development support.

We will also monitor the follow outcomes:

• By 2030 the number of new addiction research groups established by alumni of AHG funding.
• The number of additional research trained workforce within treatment and recovery service providers and settings able to support research.
• The uplift in the number of addiction healthcare related research studies conducted across relevant treatment and recovery settings UK-wide.

2.2      Transforming addiction data for research:

By 2031, deliver internationally leading data capabilities across the UK for R&D in drug and alcohol addictions that includes linkage of research-ready substance use and treatment datasets to wider physical and mental health, crime and social data, and enables efficient and secure access to industry and researchers for use in trials of innovative treatment and recovery technologies.

AHG will do this by working with UK-wide partners to implement key actions focused on data content, access, and linkage, from the forthcoming Addiction Research Data Roadmap, and aligning with key initiatives such as HDRS to prepare for integration of drug and alcohol addiction data sets.

 Key early milestones include:

• Publication of Addiction Research Data Roadmap - Autumn 2026.
• Launch of Addiction Healthcare Goals Data Roadmap Transformation Funding - Autumn 2026.

Mental Health Goals

Objective

The Mental Health Goals aims to create an innovative alliance between people with mental health conditions – whose views are often not prioritised – and industry – who face unparalleled challenges in mental health R&D – to accelerate precision psychiatry and deliver valuable new treatments that work for those who need them.

KPIs

1) By 2027, in partnership with industry, patients, initiatives established under the original Mental Health Mission, and Global Minds, we shall have established the ‘first of its kind’ cohort of well-characterised, trial-ready participants for mental health studies which, by 2030, will include multi-omics and biomarker data for at least 20,000 people with psychosis and mood disorders – allowing for highly specific stratification of individuals into trials for treatments most likely to benefit them – further reinforcing a unique UK offer to industrial investors.

2) By 2028, we shall secure commitments for 10 Industry Collaborations (including biopharma and digital technology), forming the basis of a proto public/private partnership which places lived experience expertise on an equal footing to drive and inform what needs to change in the Mental Health research environment, agreeing with decision-makers on new priorities for research which supports the transition to precision psychiatry treatment approaches.

3) By 2030, through a culmination of the Goals programme’s infrastructure, data and alliance-building investments, we will have secured for the UK a 25% rise in commercial studies for pharmaceutical and digital interventions (including biomarkers and diagnostics) that can be developed and delivered at scale in primary and community settings. As a result, we shall have cemented the UK’s position as a world-leader in precision psychiatry, maximising the benefit of innovative new treatments to patients, the NHS and the economy.