Finalist
Comparing Cancer Outcomes to Drive Improvements in Patient Care
Summary of work
In 2016, the Swedish Institute for Health Economics published a report comparing cancer outcomes across Europe, showing that UK outcomes continue to lag behind. The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) wanted to raise awareness of the findings to encourage debate on how the cancer community can work together to improve outcomes. With the public discourse dominated by Brexit, cutting through the noise and creating traction posed a challenge.
The ABPI partnered with Cancer Research UK and Breast Cancer Now to bring the cancer community together in a series of roundtable discussions to review the findings. A UK-specific report, cancer-specific briefings and an interactive digital toolkit were developed to make the data included in the academic report more accessible and easy to use.
The evidence-based discussions led to concrete policy recommendations co-created by the 37 representatives of the cancer community that attended the roundtables. These included representatives from 13 cancer charities, NICE, NHS England, major hospitals and industry. As a result, when the UK-specific report was launched in 2017, it was widely supported by the cancer community, securing extensive coverage by national and regional media.
Judges’ comments
This energising entry showed a powerful and important meeting. There was a clear need for it. It was a fantastic initiative and the ABPI and Incisive Health made a good attempt to distil complex data. The judges really loved the collaborative working aspect.
