A new era in patient engagement at Novartis UK

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·???????Working towards consistently and systematically engaging patients from day one

After spending 20 years working in the pharmaceutical industry, it’s safe to say healthcare is where my passion lies, particularly when it comes to supporting better access to treatments. At Novartis, the company I’ve been proud to call home for most of my career, we’re committed to being a bold partner for progress to the patient community.

Recently, I took the role of Country President of Novartis UK and Ireland, and I’m excited to have the opportunity to input to this important work in the UK and deliver positive changes for patients. I’m eager to see what can be achieved together, as we seek to build further partnerships and support healthcare systems to recover post-pandemic.

Finding new ways to meeting current challenges

It’s clear that our National Health Service (NHS) faces unprecedented capacity and resourcing issues, which require practical solutions that support hard-working clinicians and ensure patients are able to receive the care and treatment they need. Additionally, widening health inequalities continue to impact our most vulnerable populations, leading to poorer outcomes and placing further strain on health and care services.

Solving these challenges cannot be achieved alone. Everyone involved in supporting the health sector must work collectively towards improving and strengthening current systems for the benefit of all.

Positioning patients as a partner in their care is a key focus for us at Novartis. We know that supporting individuals to take a more proactive role in decisions about their health and treatment through shared-decision making has a positive effect on their health outcomes – enabling people to maximise the time they have with their care teams, ensuring that they understand the options available to them and can voice their preferences.

Having recently sponsored a report from the Patients Association called “Shared decision making from the perspectives of clinicians and healthcare professionals”, we saw that although the majority of care professionals found the shared decision making approach valuable for patient outcomes key barriers like time, capacity and fragmented IT systems get in the way. Following the launch of the report, we are pleased to see that The Personalised Care Group at NHS England has subsequently introduced 8 new decision tools specifically aimed at;

· Supporting patients and clinicians to make better decisions

· Reducing ‘post-decisional regret’

· Improving the experience and outcomes of care through personalised care approaches.

Whilst a lot of great work has been done towards empowering patients and driving greater uptake of shared decision making, I feel strongly that creating the cultural shift required to achieve this goal can only be delivered by working directly with patients to build tools and solutions that are accessible and truly meet their needs.

One such example of a practical tool that we are helping to deploy within the NHS is the patient management system called Penguin. In collaboration with Cievert Limited, the customisable digital patient reported outcome measure platform supports the rapid assessment of patient needs and enables clinical teams to prioritise treatment, relieving backlog and putting patients at the centre of their care.

Centering the patient experience

Browse the web pages of any pharmaceutical company and you won’t struggle to find phrases like ‘patient centricity’ or ‘patient led’. What is sometimes less clear is how these companies are securing insights from patients, why they seek to do this and where these insights have been genuinely applied. At Novartis, we intend to remove any doubt by consistently and systematically involving patients across the entire lifecycle of our medicines, from day one. ?

The value of the work we do is intrinsically linked to meeting the true needs of patients, which is why we always seek to ensure that our interactions with patient communities have patient needs at their centre. This dedication to being led by insights is reflected in our Commitment to patients and caregivers and underpins all our partnerships with the patient community.

Working together with the patient advocacy community

One of the many initiatives we have undertaken as part of our commitment to incorporating patient insights has been the set-up of the Novartis UK Patient Advocacy Leadership Coalition. This unique advisory group of leaders from within the patient advocacy community was convened earlier in 2022 and has provided valuable inputs which continue to shape our patient engagement strategy.

Our relationships with the patient advocacy community remain a great source of pride – Novartis currently works with over 80 different patient advocacy organisations, patient communities and charities from across the UK. We challenge ourselves to listen to our advocacy partners, and commission a bi-annual “needs assessment” survey to help us better understand how we can evolve our collaborations and focus on activities that are most needed by those we want to support.

Looking ahead

Despite the challenges we face as individuals, as a healthcare system and as a country I am optimistic. I am optimistic because no longer is it an option to work in isolation. Now we must come together and truly be bold partners for progress.

As such, we are calling on partners across the health sector to convene a new taskforce, which will unite the brightest lights from across the NHS, academia, industry bodies, businesses and patient advocacy organisations towards a common purpose, ensuring patients can access medicines they need as quick as possible. By replicating the successes of the COVID vaccine taskforce and learning from its challenges, we aim to identify and accelerate new ways to improve access to treatments, reduce hospital waiting lists, and meet the UK’s ambition to be a world leader in Life Sciences.

At times this won’t be easy, nor will it be straightforward, but I truly believe that by starting with listening and always acting with integrity, transparency, and mutual respect, we can work together to help the millions of people who are waiting.

For more information on how we work with the patient community, you can access our Novartis UK website here.