The Mobile Health Innovation Platform (MHIP) is a pioneering pilot programme launching in 2026 to deliver AI-enabled preventative mobile healthcare directly to underserved communities across Thurrock, Havering, and Barking & Dagenham.
Through a dedicated Mobile Health Unit, MHIP will enable solution providers to deploy innovative technologies tackling diabetes, hypertension, and related conditions. As a proof of concept, the pilot will generate evidence for NHS adoption, build local digital capability, and demonstrate a model of mobile care that complements existing health services.
Delivered by Thames Freeport in partnership with MH&A, PUBLIC, and L Marks, the initiative reflects Thames Freeport’s broader commitment to driving innovation in health, wellbeing, and community services across the region.
Why Thames Freeport is launching MHIP
Freeports are designed to unlock innovation that fuels growth — not only through trade and investment, but through ideas that strengthen the communities they serve.
Across the Thames Freeport region, long-term health conditions such as diabetes and hypertension are above the national average. Limited access to early diagnostic and preventative care makes these challenges harder to manage. By applying its innovation model to healthcare, Thames Freeport aims to demonstrate how new technology can improve both health outcomes and economic participation.
A healthier, more digitally skilled population underpins the Freeport’s wider mission: connecting global growth to local opportunity.
At Thames Freeport we are proving that real growth starts with people. When innovation helps communities live healthier and better lives the economy follows naturally. The MHIP allows us to bring health services to people where they are, drive more preventative care and offer global innovators a regional platform to turn their ideas into impact and new commercial ventures locally
How MHIP fits into the Innovation Ecosystem
MHIP sits within Thames Freeport’s Innovation Ecosystem — a series of sector-focused Labs that turn investment into intervention, outcomes, and impact. Like the Construction and Connectivity Labs, MHIP acts as a real-world testbed, using the Freeport’s logistics, partnerships, and data infrastructure to trial solutions that can later scale nationally.
This is the Health Lab in motion: testing technology in everyday settings and proving how innovation can make care more inclusive and efficient.
What MHIP offers
MHIP provides a real-world environment where innovators can deploy their digital and operational health technologies on a Mobile Health Unit. Working alongside NHS stakeholders, local authorities, pharmacies, and community partners, participants will gather data, validate outcomes, and demonstrate measurable improvements in accessibility, efficiency, and patient experience.
Use cases include:
- Targeting the provision of services: using AI and data analytics to identify priority neighbourhoods and plan routes to underserved populations.
- Diagnostics and testing for long-term conditions: deploying AI-enabled tools to identify and manage diabetes, hypertension, and comorbidities.
- Education and follow-on support: using digital tools to equip users with knowledge for sustainable self-care.
Benefits to communities and partners
For local residents, MHIP brings early diagnostics and prevention closer to home — reducing barriers to care and empowering people to manage their health.
For innovators, it offers access to real-world testing and collaboration with NHS and Freeport partners.
For the region, it shows how Freeport investment can generate social as well as economic value — building healthier communities and a stronger, more resilient workforce.
