£1.65m Investment Funds 17 Projects to Transform NHS Care

Key Points

• The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has awarded £1.65 million to 17 early-stage quantum health technology projects.
• Funding has been distributed through the NIHR’s Invention for Innovation Funding At the Speed of Translation opportunity, known as i4i FAST.
• The Q-Biomed and QuSIT quantum research hubs for healthcare, both co-funded by the NIHR, are involved in supporting the programme.
• Imperial College London researchers are exploring imaging using “undetected photons” to support breast cancer treatment decisions.
• Heriot-Watt University is developing a compact home-monitoring device for people with macular disease.
• University College London is building a hybrid quantum and classical decision-support system for intensive care units, including predicting cardiac arrest.
• Further projects will examine early Alzheimer’s disease detection, rheumatoid arthritis treatment selection, chronic liver disease, anaesthesia monitoring, point-of-care diagnostics and photodynamic cancer treatment.
• Professor Mike Lewis, NIHR Scientific Director for Innovation, said the projects will “fast-track tools that can diagnose illness earlier.”
• Health and Social Care Minister Baroness Gillian Merron said the funding could help detect cancer earlier and support people to monitor long-term conditions from home.
• Tim Flagg, Chief Executive of UKAI, and Jo Bekis, Chief Executive of UK Healthcare and Life Sciences Innovation, both welcomed the investment as a step towards a more preventative, technology-enabled NHS.
• The Government has set an ambition for the UK to deploy quantum computers at scale by the early 2030s, with the technology potentially contributing £200 billion to the economy by 2045.

London (Britain Today News) July 30, 2026 – The National Institute for Health and Care Research has awarded £1.65 million to 17 projects exploring how quantum health technology could improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease across the National Health Service. The investment is designed to connect leading quantum researchers with clinical expertise and NIHR infrastructure, helping promising technologies progress towards further development and potential use across the NHS.

What is the £1.65 million NIHR quantum health investment?

The funding forms part of a coordinated push by the National Institute for Health and Care Research to explore whether quantum technologies, long confined to laboratories and physics departments, can be translated into practical tools for frontline healthcare. The 17 projects cover a wide range of clinical areas, from cancer imaging to intensive care decision-making, and each represents an early-stage attempt to test whether quantum-based approaches can meet a genuine clinical need.

Rather than funding fully developed products, the NIHR’s approach is aimed at proof-of-concept work. The intention is to establish an evidence base that can later attract further public or private investment, allowing the strongest projects to progress towards clinical trials and, eventually, routine use within the NHS.

How does the i4i FAST programme accelerate quantum innovation?

The projects have been funded through the NIHR’s Invention for Innovation Funding At the Speed of Translation opportunity, known as i4i FAST. The programme is designed to close the gap between early scientific discovery and practical healthcare applications by supporting researchers to test whether emerging technologies can meet genuine clinical needs.

i4i FAST is structured to move quickly, providing funding at a stage when many innovations would otherwise struggle to secure investment. By supporting researchers before their technologies are fully proven, the programme aims to reduce the risk of promising ideas stalling before they reach patients.

Which research hubs are involved in the quantum health programme?

The initiative also involves the Q-Biomed and QuSIT quantum research hubs for healthcare, which are co-funded by the NIHR, alongside other parts of the research infrastructure working on quantum technologies. These hubs are intended to provide specialist expertise and shared infrastructure, helping individual research teams access the equipment and knowledge required to test quantum applications in a healthcare context.

By pooling resources across multiple institutions, the hubs are expected to reduce duplication of effort and help ensure that lessons learned in one project can benefit others working on similar quantum health challenges.

What did Professor Mike Lewis say about the investment?

Professor Mike Lewis, NIHR Scientific Director for Innovation, described the investment as a major step towards bringing quantum technology to patients and strengthening the UK’s position in quantum health innovation.

He said:

“By investing in these 17 projects, we are fast-tracking tools that can diagnose illness earlier and provide life-changing breakthroughs. These innovations will transform our health system and improve the lives of patients.”

How could quantum technology transform breast cancer imaging?

Researchers at Imperial College London are examining how imaging using “undetected photons” could support treatment decisions for people with breast cancer. The technology is intended to create faster, lower-noise images, potentially helping clinicians identify patients who may not require chemotherapy.

If successful, the approach could reduce the number of patients subjected to invasive or unnecessary treatment, while also easing pressure on imaging services that are frequently stretched across NHS trusts. Faster, clearer imaging could additionally shorten the time patients wait for a diagnosis and treatment plan, a factor that can significantly affect outcomes in cancer care.

What home monitoring device is being developed for eye disease?

At Heriot-Watt University, researchers are developing a compact device that could allow people with macular disease to monitor their eyes at home. This could reduce the need for regular hospital appointments while helping services identify changes before significant sight loss occurs.

Macular disease is a leading cause of vision loss in older adults, and current monitoring often requires repeated hospital visits. A reliable home-based alternative could ease the burden on both patients, many of whom face mobility challenges, and on hospital eye services that are under sustained demand.

How could quantum technology improve intensive care decision-making?

University College London researchers are also developing a hybrid quantum and classical decision-support system for intensive care units. The project will examine whether the technology can interpret complex patient data and predict critical events, including cardiac arrest, more quickly and accurately.

Intensive care units generate vast quantities of data from monitors and diagnostic equipment, often more than clinical staff can process at speed. A system capable of flagging early warning signs before a patient deteriorates could give medical teams a critical window to intervene, potentially saving lives.

What other conditions could benefit from quantum health projects?

Beyond cancer imaging, home monitoring and intensive care, the wider portfolio of 17 funded projects will investigate quantum sensing for early Alzheimer’s disease detection, treatment selection for rheumatoid arthritis, chronic liver disease, anaesthesia monitoring, point-of-care diagnostics and photodynamic cancer treatment.

Each of these areas presents its own clinical challenge, whether that is diagnosing a condition earlier, selecting the most effective treatment for an individual patient, or monitoring a patient’s status more precisely during a procedure. Taken together, the projects illustrate the breadth of ambition behind the NIHR’s quantum health strategy, spanning conditions that affect millions of people across the United Kingdom.

How could the investment help move NHS care closer to patients?

A central theme of the programme is the potential to identify illness earlier and move more services away from acute hospitals and into homes and communities. Earlier detection could prevent conditions from developing into more complex and costly long-term health problems, while home monitoring could reduce unnecessary hospital visits and allow patients and clinicians to identify deterioration sooner.

These aims support the Government’s wider ambition to move the NHS from analogue systems towards more digitally enabled and preventative models of care, a shift that has been repeatedly highlighted as central to the long-term sustainability of the health service.

What did Baroness Gillian Merron say about the funding?

Health and Social Care Minister Baroness Gillian Merron said quantum technology could help patients receive faster and better care while supporting the development of an NHS equipped for future challenges.

She said:

“Through this £1.65 million investment, we’re backing some of the UK’s brightest researchers to turn cutting-edge science into practical innovations that could help detect cancer earlier, support people to monitor long-term conditions from home, and give clinicians better tools to make life-saving decisions.”

How does this fit the UK’s wider quantum technology ambitions?

The Government has set an ambition for the UK to become the first country to deploy quantum computers at scale by the early 2030s, with the technology potentially contributing £200 billion to the economy by 2045.

Quantum technologies could offer greater precision and processing power in areas such as imaging, diagnostics, sensing and the analysis of complex health data. However, many potential applications remain at an early stage, which is why the NIHR funding is intended to establish whether the technologies can work in clinical environments and deliver benefits that justify further investment.

By supporting the projects during their initial development, the programme could help create a pipeline of clinically relevant innovations capable of attracting further public and private funding. It could also create new commercial opportunities for British researchers and technology companies while improving NHS productivity and patient care.

What are industry leaders saying about the future of quantum health innovation?

Tim Flagg, Chief Executive of UKAI, said:

“We welcome this ambitious £1.65 million investment as a clear signal that the UK is positioning itself as a genuine leader in quantum health innovation. Backing 17 projects at this early stage shows real commitment to enabling the next generation of AI-driven and quantum-enabled diagnostics, from cancer imaging to home monitoring.”

He continued:

“What matters now is turning that ambition into services patients actually receive, ensuring these breakthroughs move beyond the lab and into NHS pathways where they can genuinely transform lives.”

Jo Bekis, Chief Executive of UK Healthcare and Life Sciences Innovation, also welcomed the announcement, saying:

“This £1.65 million investment marks an exciting step forward for the future of patient care. The potential for quantum technologies to enable earlier diagnosis, smarter clinical decision-making and more accessible care is truly transformative.”

She continued:

“It is encouraging to see such strong support for innovations that could not only improve patient outcomes but also help build a more resilient, preventative and technology-enabled NHS for generations to come.”

Where can the full list of 17 funded projects be found?

Members of Curia, UKAI and UK Healthcare and Life Sciences Innovation (UKHLSI) can download the full list of funded projects via a dedicated link, with a password having been emailed directly to members of those organisations.
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What happens next for quantum health technology in the NHS?

The investment is modest when divided across 17 projects, but its significance lies in building the evidence needed to move quantum health technologies beyond laboratories and into clinical settings.

The next challenge will be ensuring that the strongest projects can access follow-on funding, demonstrate measurable benefits, and integrate into existing NHS pathways and clinical workflows. Scientific potential alone will not secure adoption; technologies will also need to be affordable, usable by frontline teams and capable of addressing clear service pressures.

If these conditions are met, quantum health could support earlier diagnosis, more personalised treatment and a gradual shift from hospital-based intervention towards prevention and care closer to home, marking an incremental but meaningful step in the modernisation of the National Health Service.