Collaboration: The new paradigm for healthcare

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:07

A call by UK Prime Minister David Cameron for greater collaboration between the pharmaceutical industry, academia, and the National Health Service to keep up with the rapidly changing landscape of modern healthcare has been welcomed by Atlantis Healthcare CEO Michael Whittaker.

In a speech given earlier this month to the FT Global Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Conference, Cameron observed: “In place of the old big Pharma model, a new one is emerging. It’s about more collaboration, more out-sourcing, more early trials.”

“This vision for better collaboration is fundamental to delivering better innovation in healthcare,  specifically in medicines adherence, so it’s encouraging to see the UK government backing Pharma in this regard”, explains Whittaker.

And with an additional £495 million in capital funding dedicated to life science in 2012, much of which is earmarked for Academic Health and Science Centres, UK regulators are serious about helping Pharma to join forces with scientists, clinicians and the NHS so that better and smarter care can be  delivered for patients.

“This is an initiative we’d like to see implemented in other countries as well,” says Whittaker.

“Research and our own experience has shown that an integrated approach helps to deliver healthier populations. By making more funding available at a local level, the UK government has cleared the way for further progress.” 

A programme aimed at improving adherence to medication and health outcomes for patients with Acute Coronary Syndromes (ACS – an umbrella term used for patients who have suffered from a heart attack or episode of unstable angina) provides a current example of an innovative joint working arrangement. Initiated and funded by AstraZeneca, the programme utilises a partnership approach with Acute and Primary Care Trusts to enrol patients on the programme, AstraZeneca (UK) National Collaboration Manager Nick Jones says.

“The ACS support programme takes a collaborative approach to enrolling patients. We have instituted joint working arrangements with Acute Trusts and work closely with healthcare professionals on the ward – allowing more patients access to the support provided on this programme once they have been discharged from hospital."

“Patients on this programme receive a number of personalised interventions, designed by Health Psychologists, to help them make the necessary lifestyle changes to recover from ACS,” says Jones.

Tools include a series of health magazines that provide content tailored to target preconceptions or misinformation that may lead to medicines non-adherence, access to a personalised web experience to guide them through the information most relevant to them, and access to a clinical contact centre so they can discuss their treatment and recovery with a nurse.

Michael Whittaker says the ACS programme shows both how the discipline of health psychology can be used to shape personalised interventions for patients, and how working with the NHS can deliver a higher level of support.

To help more companies turn the theory of collaboration into practice, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has released a new framework which provides greater clarity around the key aspects of joint working between the pharmaceutical industry and the NHS.

“A framework such as this will greatly speed the process of getting valuable scientific knowledge developed within the pharmaceutical industry out into the public health system and to the patients that will benefit from it,” says Whittaker.