Blog | Reflecting on FemHealth Integrates 2026

I recently had the opportunity to attend FemHealth Integrates 2026 in Manchester — a day focused on improving women’s health through innovation, collaboration, and meaningful system change. The event brought together clinicians, innovators and industry partners, all united by a shared ambition: fostering greater equality across healthcare.

Improving diversity and representation in clinical trials remains a critical issue for women’s health. Ceri Stokes, Director of Business Development at Optum, explored this challenge on the ‘Rethinking Clinical Trials’ panel. The discussion focused on how women’s participation — alongside wider diversity — can be increased across clinical research. It reinforced a familiar but vital point: without representative data, we risk developing treatments, devices, and care pathways that fail to meet the real needs of half the population.

Innovation is happening — but it needs a joined‑up NHS approach

Throughout the day, we heard about exciting new innovations — many of them seed‑funded — aimed at driving meaningful improvement in women’s health. These included early diagnostic tools, new treatment approaches, digital solutions, and patient‑centric devices that could fill long-standing gaps in care.

Reflecting on the day, one consistent theme emerged — innovation alone isn’t enough.

For these breakthroughs to deliver impact at scale, they need an NHS that is connected, consistent, and ready to adopt them. This means alignment across:

Early detection
Standardised care pathways
Adoption and evaluation of innovations
Workforce readiness
Funding and commissioning
Real‑world clinical outcomes tracking

This joined-up approach is especially critical for conditions such as endometriosis and fertility, where delays in diagnosis and inconsistent care remain major challenges. Emerging FemTech solutions have the potential to transform early identification and patient support — but only if they are underpinned by the right structures, resources, and implementation frameworks within the NHS.

FemTech must connect detection, treatment and implementation

What still feels missing in the otherwise exciting FemTech development landscape is stronger integration. Too often, innovations exist as standalone solutions rather than as part of a holistic, equitable ecosystem.

To truly deliver impact, FemTech must connect detection, treatment, and implementation — ensuring that women most in need can access data‑driven, guideline‑assured innovations that are both promising and scalable.

How we can bridge the gap

At Optum, we are uniquely positioned to ensure women’s health innovations move from concept to real‑world practice — and to demonstrate measurable value along the way.

We can support FemTech and women’s health companies by providing:

Real‑world testing environments for new technologies — helping innovators trial their solutions safely, effectively, and at pace
Clinical outcomes collection and analysis — generating the evidence needed to prove impact, support commissioning decisions, and drive adoption across the NHS
Pathway design and implementation support — ensuring innovations integrate seamlessly into NHS pathways, and stay embedded over time
Expertise in scaling solutions across NHS organisations — helping great ideas become system-wide improvements, not isolated pilots

By working together as one connected ecosystem, we can accelerate the journey from promising concepts to meaningful patient impact.

Get in touch

About the author

Isabel Hunt

Market solution specialist - Life Sciences

Izzy brings deep expertise and a proven track record in helping sponsors and CROs deliver studies with greater precision, speed, and equity. In her role as a Market Solutions Specialist at Optum, she sits between technology, data, and research delivery, turning complicated problems into practical solutions that make a real difference.