Women leaders from across Wales’ health innovation ecosystem came together at our session at the 2026 National Eisteddfod Y Garreg Las to explore how innovation can help people live healthier lives, support a more sustainable NHS and crucially, turn new ideas into real-world impact.
Hosted at Hywel Dda University Health Board’s stand, the panel brought together expertise from across academia, healthcare, life sciences and innovation. Chaired by BBC Cymru Wales Political Editor, Catrin Haf Jones, the discussion featured Dr Elin Haf Davies, Health Tech Entrepreneur, Dr Siân Morgan, Consultant Clinical Scientist, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, Professor Ffion Williams, Head of Swansea University Medical School, and Dr Catrin Middleton, Head of Programme Delivery, Life Sciences Hub Wales.
The panel reflected on some of the biggest challenges facing health and social care in Wales.
Prevention, early diagnosis and better outcomes
A shared view was the need to focus more on prevention, earlier diagnosis and keeping people healthier for longer. Dr Siân Morgan spoke about the importance of anticipating illness before it develops, while Dr Elin Haf Davies highlighted how wider inequalities that can shape long-term health outcomes.
Elin stressed that many health challenges begin in early childhood, with poverty in the first five years of life often linked to poorer health outcomes later on in life. Reflecting on the importance of early intervention, she pointed to initiatives such as Flying Start, which supports families and communities facing these challenges.
The panel also explored how innovation is already helping to improve outcomes for patients. Siân highlighted QuicDNA as an example of this progress, explaining how the liquid biopsy blood test is supporting faster diagnosis and more personalised treatment approaches across Wales, helping to improve quality of life for patients.
Innovation rooted in real patient need
A standout topic throughout the discussion was that innovation must start with people. Panellists stressed that innovation should be driven by the needs and experiences of patients. Dr Catrin Middleton emphasised the importance of listening to people with lived experience and understanding the realities of navigating health and social care services.
“Encourage the communication that patients are experts in their own field. We need to acknowledge that a patient is an expert in what it feels like to have their condition, and how it is to live with their condition or illness.”
The conversation also highlighted the importance of making innovation work around people’s lives. Dr Elin Haf Davies challenged traditional approaches to clinical trials, questioning why patients should sometimes be required to travel to hospital appointments when elements of care and research could take place closer to home. The panel agreed that innovation should remove barriers rather than create them, making it easier for people to access support, treatment and opportunities to participate in research.
The power of patient voice was also brought to life by Dr Siân Morgan, who discussed Craig Maxwell’s fundraising and campaigning efforts to help improve cancer diagnosis in Wales. Diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, Craig has raised more than £1.6 million through the Maxwell Genomics Fund and has become a powerful advocate for faster diagnosis and personalised treatment. His story serves as a reminder that behind every innovation are real people and families whose experiences can help drive meaningful change. Siân reflected that though technological advances are important, it’s the impact that they have on patients’ lives that matters most.
Making innovation accessible across Wales
Panellists agreed that innovation must be accessible to people across Wales, regardless of where they live. Discussions focussed on reducing barriers to accessing clinical trials, advanced treatments and new technologies, particularly for people living in rural and underserved communities.
Dr Catrin Middleton pointed to growing demand for cancer support, an ageing population and the need for earlier diagnosis, highlighting the role innovation can play in improving diagnosis and treatment across Wales.
From pilots to national adoption
While speakers recognised the strength of innovation activity already taking place across Wales, there was a shared view that more needs to be done to spread successful approaches nationally.
Panellists reflected on the challenge of moving beyond individual pilot projects and ensuring proven innovations become part of routine practice across health and care services. Dr Catrin Middleton highlighted a familiar challenge: Wales has considerable innovation activity and many successful pilots but needs a clearer more consistent route for proven innovation to enter, spread through and become embedded across the NHS in Wales. Catrin reflected on the need to move beyond successful pilots, share learning more effectively across the country and learn from innovation systems elsewhere to accelerate adoption. Profess
Professor Ffion Williams noted “For Swansea University, we work with health boards and innovation companies and we’re ready to talk and listen, we’re part of the community. What we could do better is transfer this to be across all of Wales. We do innovation so well, and there’s a push to do things locally, but we need to be better at expanding innovation across all of Wales.”
Inspiring the next generation
Looking to the future, the discussion turned to the future workforce and the role of education, creativity and skills in supporting health innovation.
Panellists emphasised the importance of encouraging young people to explore opportunities in science, technology, healthcare and research, while ensuring they understand the breadth of careers available to them. There was recognition that the jobs of the future may look very different from those of today, making adaptability, curiosity and lifelong learning increasingly important.
Speakers also highlighted the need to retain talent in Wales and create opportunities for future generations to contribute to the country’s growing life sciences sector. Dr Elin Haf Davies highlighted:
“Jobs that exist now might not exist when today’s young people are of age. The world is moving much faster than education can prepare. Skills need to develop and evolve constantly.”
Looking ahead
As the discussions concluded, panellists reflected on what needs to change to realise the full potential of health innovation in Wales. There was a shared view that innovation needs to be easier to adopt, more accessible to communities and increasingly embedded within everyday care.
The discussion highlighted the importance of putting patients at the heart of innovation, focussing on prevention and earlier diagnosis, widening access to new approaches and crucially, ensuring that successful innovation can move beyond individual pilots and be adopted at scale across Wales.
Bringing together perspectives from across health, academia and innovation, the session demonstrated both the strength of what is already happening in Wales and the opportunity to go further – through greater collaboration, ambition and shared focus on turning innovation into better outcomes for people and communities across Wales.
If you’d like to find out more about this session or are interested in getting involved in our next panel discussion, please get in touch here.