Consultant-led innovation across the health service

Engagement with the consultant innovation fund has grown over the last two years, with 2026 expected to see a further increase. David Lynch reports 

Engagement with the consultant innovation fund (CIF) is on the rise, according to figures provided to the Medical Independent (MI).

The CIF was established under the public-only consultant contract  (POCC) to “empower” consultants to lead innovation and research projects that directly enhance patient care, service delivery, clinical pathways, and outcomes.

While the POCC was introduced in 2023, CIF activity began in 2024. The fund enables each consultant to access up to €8,000 annually, with the option for groups of consultants to pool their allocations, up to €50,000, for larger, jointly delivered innovation initiatives.

The CIF is administered centrally through the HSE Spark Innovation Programme and has rapidly become a key driver of clinician-led innovation across the Irish health system.

Formally launched for applications in early 2024, in its first operational year, 463 consultants engaged with the fund through individual or pooled applications.

“Engagement continued to grow in 2025,” a HSE spokesperson told MI.

According to HSE figures, in 2024, €4.7 million in project funding was approved. This increased to €6.18 million in 2025, a 31 per cent increase aligned with the growth in applications and the wider distribution of funding across consultant groups.

This growth reflected “strong awareness” of the fund and increasing confidence among consultants in putting forward innovative, service-improvement-focused proposals.

“This number rose significantly in 2025, with 769 consultants involved, representing a 66 per cent increase in participation year-on-year.”

Engagement has broadened both geographically and across specialties. While Dublin hospitals continue to account for the largest proportion of applications, “participation grew markedly” in Cork, Galway, and Sligo.

“Growth across anaesthesiology, pathology and laboratory medicine, and paediatrics and neonatology reflect specialties with strong innovation momentum,” according to the spokesperson.

Increase

Overall, 2025 saw substantially higher demand and greater reliance on pooled consultant teams, “demonstrating sustained and maturing engagement” with the fund.

Uptake by consultants has also increased substantially since the fund’s introduction. Applications rose from 212 in 2024 to 365 in 2025, representing a 72 per cent increase. Of these, 194 were approved in 2024, and 265 in 2025. Pooled applications also grew from 106 to 172. According to the HSE, this reflected the strong and growing interest in multidisciplinary and multi-consultant “innovation approaches”.

Entering the new year, the HSE said that based on the trajectory of the first two years, with increasing consultant awareness, strengthened governance processes, and expanded pre-submission supports, further increases in engagement are anticipated in 2026.

“The CIF is unlike any other innovation fund internationally, giving consultants a direct pathway to develop and implement ideas that transform patient care,” Dr Clíodhna McHugh (PhD), Innovation Specialist, CIF Lead, told MI.

“The projects we are seeing across Ireland show the extraordinary creativity and leadership of consultants in every specialty.”

Dr McHugh added that consultants are using this fund to drive meaningful improvements in patient care, digital transformation, and service redesign.

“As we continue to strengthen our processes for 2026, we strongly encourage consultants to engage early, particularly with the pre-submission phase and the new deadlines, so that we can support them to bring their ideas to life and maximise the impact of this unique national fund.”

POCC

Interest in the CIF has grown in parallel with the rising number of consultants signing up to the POCC.

According to minutes of the September meeting of the Sláintecare programme board, members were told 3,090 consultants had signed the POCC as of the end of August 2025.

This was made up of 943 new entrants and 2,147 change of contracts. By the end of August, approximately two out of three consultants (66 per cent) were working on a POCC.

IHCA

Consultant representative groups have been supportive of the new fund. Speaking last year at an IHCA symposium on championing sustainability in the health service, the Association’s President Prof Gabrielle Colleran said it was her aspiration that new projects would emerge from the CIF and that many could be scaled-up to national implementation.

“I believe we have a unique opportunity thanks to the generous innovation funding available under the new consultant contract,” she told the audience.

Speaking to MI at the same symposium in January, Mr Jared Gormly, Head of the HSE Spark Innovation Programme, said that he expected consultant engagement with the CIF to increase

“We are optimistic because for the consultants who have engaged with it so far, it has worked well for them,” he told MI. “So, we think it will become almost a routine [that consultants will apply for it annually].”

On 12 November 2025, Spark hosted ‘AI [artificial intelligence] in Practice’, showcasing 27 CIF-funded projects across 2024–2025. These projects demonstrated advances in diagnostics, imaging, automation, simulation training, and patient engagement, and showcased the growing culture of innovation driven by consultant-led initiatives.

The HSE Spark Innovation Programme “is highly satisfied” with the progression of the CIF. The fund is enabling consultants to deliver tangible, system-level improvements across the health service, according to the HSE spokesperson. 

Funded projects span a wide range of areas. These include service redesign and pathway optimisation, such as one-stop clinics and streamlined referral systems. They also cover digital and technology-enabled care, including AI-supported decision tools, workflow automation, and telemedicine.

Challenges

According to the HSE’s online CIF portal, consultants highlighted several challenges during the 2024 and 2025 cycles, including delays in fund transfers and limited time to use the funding before year-end. They also reported difficulties acting on Spark team feedback within tight timelines, as well as problems securing the required signatures for approved projects in advance of fund transfers.

To address these issues, a number of changes have been introduced to the CIF (see https://healthservice.hse.ie/staff/spark-innovation-programme/consultant-innovation-fund/).

These include a stronger emphasis on early engagement through the portal’s pre-submission application form, which allows consultants to receive feedback on their proposals.

2026 applications

For the 2026 cycle, applicants who wish to receive feedback from the Spark team before final submission must submit their proposal by 16 January 2026, while final submissions must be made by 3 April.

The CIF has “rapidly established itself as a major enabler of clinician-led innovation” within the Irish health service, the HSE spokesperson told MI. With strong participation, diverse project activity, and significant growth in engagement across 2024 and 2025, the fund is already delivering tangible improvements in patient care and service delivery. Ongoing enhancements will ensure that the CIF remains an effective and sustainable cornerstone of consultant-led innovation into 2026 and beyond, according to the HSE

Consultant Innovation Fund – Formal Application is available at: https://surveys.hse.ie/s/12FZCF/