For UK HealthTech companies
Your NHS pilots keep stalling before they ever become contracts
Without a clear grasp of commissioning frameworks, procurement routes and trust decision-making, deals can drift for a year or more, burning six or seven figures before meaningful revenue arrives.
Two minutes. Solva follows up with specific NHS procurement route options.
- Healthtech companies burning through cash reserves before securing contracts
- Repeatedly restarting procurement processes due to missed requirements or changing priorities
- Sales teams spending significant time on deals that ultimately stall or fail to convert
- Frustration and disillusionment among healthtech innovators with the NHS market.
- Inefficient allocation of sales and business development resources
- Delayed market entry and scaling for innovative healthtech solutions
- Significant cash burn and increased operational costs for healthtech startups
- Reduced investor confidence and difficulty in securing further funding rounds
- Damage to the healthtech company's reputation within the investor community
- Negative perception of the NHS as a difficult market for innovation
NHS procurement cycles often take 12-24 months, with many healthtech startups spending 6-7 figures chasing contracts before revenue (UK Business Angels Association, 2025)
Source: https://ukbaa.org.uk/blog/2025/12/03/selling-into-the-nhs-the-hidden-costs-that-kill-cashflow/
Frequently asked questions
Why does this problem persist?
NHS procurement is one of the most complex buying environments in the world. Healthtech companies that do not understand the procurement landscape, including ICB commissioning frameworks, NHS Supply Chain, G-Cloud, and the NHS Shared Business Services frameworks, waste enormous amounts of time and money on sales approaches that cannot result in a contract. The average NHS procurement cycle for a digital health solution is 18 to 24 months, and companies that do not understand how to navigate it correctly often restart the clock multiple times.
What is the cost of leaving it unaddressed?
Selling into the NHS is slow, complex and expensive, with procurement cycles often taking 12-24 months. It is not unusual for startups to spend 6-7 figures chasing NHS contracts before meaningful revenue arrives. (UK Business Angels Association, 2025)
This is exactly what I do with UK private practices. Answer the few questions above and I'll come back personally with where to start. Paul.