Bidshaper supports West Midlands NHS partners to secure share of £85m obesity care fund

Bidshaper is delighted to share that two NHS programmes in the West Midlands have secured funding through Innovate UK's Obesity Pathway Innovation Programme (OPIP), following bid support work we delivered in partnership with Health Innovation West Midlands (HIWM).

The OPIP is part of an £85 million national investment, backed by Innovate UK, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), and Eli Lilly, to accelerate innovation in obesity care, improve access to treatment, and tackle health inequalities across the UK.

Working alongside HIWM's Head of Delivery, Rabia Gowa, Bidshaper supported opportunity identification, early mobilisation, and the development of collaborative bids for Integrated Care Boards across the West Midlands. Our contribution included convening system partners to co-design proposals, providing specialist bid-writing expertise, applying a structured methodological approach across both the application and interview stages, and offering insight into the Innovate UK process to strengthen submissions.

The two successful West Midlands programmes are:

BRIDGE (Birmingham, Solihull and the Black Country) - a smart digital system to connect patients to tailored clinical support and weight management medications, with a focus on reaching those least likely to seek help, including teenagers and young adults, people living with serious mental illness, and patients needing to lose weight ahead of orthopaedic procedures.

CW-OPIP (Coventry and Warwickshire) - a programme offering new digital tools, neighbourhood lifestyle groups, community clinics providing weight loss medications, and specialist outreach services, including a mobile healthcare clinic to reach people in underserved rural and urban communities.

Together, the Midlands secured four successful projects nationally, around a third of all awards, with Bidshaper's support contributing to two of the West Midlands wins.

This project is a strong example of what specialist bid support can deliver in complex, competitive funding environments. We are proud to have played a part in bringing these programmes to life and look forward to seeing the impact they have for patients and communities across the West Midlands.

Read the full announcement from Health Innovation West Midlands here.