Excellence in Communications - Payers/Policy Makers

Summary of work

An estimated 500,000 people are living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in the UK with prevalence of the disease expected to grow by over 10% by 2025. There are roughly 770 patients per parliamentary constituency. However, unwarranted variation in patient care remains a long-standing unresolved issue, with patients facing delays across the care pathway. This can significantly impact the health of the patient and can also prove costly for the NHS. There are national quality frameworks such as the IBD Standards, designed to address unwarranted variation, but these frameworks have not been implemented consistently across the country.

Before starting our campaign, IBD in the UK was under-prioritised and the needs of these half million patients were not seen as high priority by policymakers in England. Our task was to increase awareness to drive change in the system via policymaker engagement, who have the power to effect tangible change. We executed a creative, strategic and evidence-led campaign, which met all objectives and KPIs and drove awareness and advocacy around the need for better standards of care for people living with IBD. The project culminated in the launch of a pilot project with the East Midlands ASHN.

Judges' comments

This entry from Takeda and Lexington had good tactics and the survey has shown excellent data. There was strong parliamentary engagement, which was impressive. It is quite early in the lifecycle and judges look forward to seeing it develop.