Sustaining and scaling change in women’s health: does pragmatism trump passion?

Women’s health is arguably receiving more attention than ever at a global level; in the UK this interest is evidenced by the Department of Health and Social Care’s Renewed Women’s Health Strategy for England. For decades, healthcare challenges facing women have been underestimated and underfunded. Today, national frameworks are actively prioritising critical gaps like menopause care, cervical cancer elimination, and maternal health disparities. High-potential innovations, developed by ambitious founders, are finally being recognised as the engine required to accelerate this long-overdue progress.

Navigating the chasm: the Adoption Gap

Tests and pilots are positive first steps for innovations tackling gender health inequalities, but true transformation means scaling to make a difference at a population level, rather than through one-off experiments.

The next hurdle for the FemTech sector is overcoming the notorious “adoption gap.” This concept, originally put forward by Geoffrey Moore in the 1990s, explains why so many innovations fail to scale. The adoption gap suggests that it is one thing to launch a successful digital health pilot with a handful of visionary clinicians; it is an entirely different challenge to move from this enthusiastic early “pioneer” adoption to mainstream acceptance across a deeply entrenched healthcare system. Countless transformative digital health solutions get trapped in a perpetual loop of local trials, unable to breach institutional silos or secure permanent, widespread deployment.

Overcoming this barrier requires a fundamental shift in mindset regarding what is going to facilitate long-term adoption, transitioning away from pure passion towards rigid pragmatism. Early-stage traction is often fuelled by the sheer conviction of founders and clinicians who are deeply passionate about closing the gender health gap. However, systemic procurement and national commissioners do not buy passion; they buy scalability, clinical safety, and proven financial viability.

The critical role of high-quality data

Winning over the health and social care system is practically impossible without good-quality, robust data. This is precisely why rigorous evaluation and health economics are critical considerations to achieve meaningful scale. To seamlessly integrate into standard care, innovators must conclusively prove not only that their technology works, but that it proactively reduces the net burden on clinical staff, improves patient pathways, and delivers a clear financial return on investment for the commissioner.

Working to fill this gap is exactly what we’ve done with the Accelerating FemTech: Evaluate programme. Funded by the Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst and delivered by the Health Innovation Network South London, DigitalHealth.London and national partners, this 10-week programme was designed for later-stage innovations (technology readiness levels (TRL) 4+). The programme bridged the gap between visionary women’s health solutions and the complex realities of healthcare markets, enabling growth through tailored support, planning strategic partnerships and refining pathways for real-world evaluation, such as health economic analyses.

Pragmatic innovation in action: innovator spotlights

The impact of this rigorous, evaluation-first approach is best highlighted by the diverse cohort of 10 companies that refined their evaluation pathways during the programme.

Some standout companies with a strong evaluation focus include:

• Dignity Care Network: By focusing on robust real-world evaluation in partnership with secondary care, they are bringing dignified, practical support to women experiencing miscarriage in both home and clinical settings with their Miscarriage Collection Cradle and Miscarriage Care Kits.
• Matresa: A digital, preventative maternal health platform supporting women from fertility through to their return to work. Through the programme, they have been equipped to refine their economic data to prove to corporate employers and health systems how proactive maternal tracking directly prevents costly long-term health complications and workforce absenteeism.
• Niramai Health Analytix: Creators of Thermalytix, an AI-powered, non-invasive breast health screening test that functions across all ages and breast densities. Their evaluation focus centres on proving the clinical efficacy and cost-benefit of their thermal imaging tool, identifying a path for it to complement traditional, overburdened diagnostic systems.
• P.Happi: Developed an innovative, non-antibiotic Intimate Microbiome Serum using a naturally occurring predatory bacterium to support microbiome imbalances that can make women more prone to urinary tract infections (UTIs), thrush, Bacterial vaginosis (BV) and vaginal dryness. Their approach involves structuring clinical data to target community pharmacies and NHS primary care networks as an effective tool for preventative health.

By empowering these companies to back their passion with robust data, Accelerating FemTech: Evaluate has successfully established a scalable blueprint. The programme has helped 80% of its participants secure evaluation partnerships with universities, NHS Trusts, and regional networks, positioning these vital innovations to move off the sidelines and into mainstream healthcare.

Author:

Ruth Bradbury
Health Innovation Network (HIN) South London’s Senior Programme Manager