We are delighted to share that Annie Taylor, Deputy Associate Director of Patient Care for Medicine, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust and Co-Founder of RateMyShift, has been selected as a fellow in the NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) 2026 cohort.
Annie’s successful application was supported by our innovation team, who first connected with her through our 2024/25 Commercialisation Academy. Annie joined the Academy programme alongside her colleague and Co-Creator Olivia Crossing.
During the Academy, Annie and Olivia received mentorship, strategic guidance on scaling their innovation, and opportunities to collaborate with fellow innovators and engage with key decision-makers across the health system. It was also through the programme that they met their current technology partner, Ollie Cogan from Alphalake.
As the NHS works to deliver the ambitions of its 10 Year Health Plan, the need to move beyond isolated pilot projects towards sustainable, system-wide adoption has never been more pressing. For the past decade, the NIA has played a vital role in this shift: identifying high-impact innovations, supporting their development, and connecting them with the networks needed to embed them at scale.
The 2026 cohort of NIA fellows brings forward solutions that directly address both national and local priorities. These span prevention and early intervention, elective recovery, mental health, workforce support, and long-term condition management. Each innovation has been selected for its potential to improve outcomes, enhance patient and staff experience, and deliver value across the health and care system.
Among them is RateMyShift – an award-winning, digital platform that captures real-time staff experience across health and social care. After each shift, staff are simply asked: “How do you feel after your shift today?” They choose a face and can leave confidential feedback.
If someone reports a difficult shift, their manager is quietly prompted to check in. Managers see trends early, not months later. Organisations finally have a live view of workforce wellbeing – not just annual snapshots. Built by nurses and co-created with frontline teams, RateMyShift gives staff a safe voice, makes support fairer, and gives managers the confidence and evidence to act early instead of firefighting.
Alex Leach, Deputy Director of Programmes at Health Innovation West of England, said:
“We are delighted for Annie – achieving a place as an NIA fellow is richly deserved. We have supported RateMyShift extensively since they started, including: being part of our first Commercialisation Academy, providing support to refine their value proposition, plus support to plan and evaluate RateMyShift in a trial at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston. We have also helped with applications for funding and to the NIA. We’ve been proud to support Annie and the RateMyShift team on their journey.”
Many congratulations to Annie and we look forward to continuing to support her and the RateMyShift team as they take their next steps.
Find out more about the NHS Innovation Accelerator 2026 fellows.
Posted on July 7, 2026
