Please login to the form below
The role of pharma in breaking through the backlog
As health systems emerge from the pandemic, and attention turns to the backlog of patients waiting for treatment, how can the pharmaceutical industry position itself as part of the solution? In his latest blog, Hanover Health’s Alexander Davies looks to answer the following questions – big pharma was there for the world when it needed vaccines in record-breaking time, can it find the innovations that we need now to clear through the queue of people waiting for treatment? Can it partner with health systems to speed up access, improve patient outcomes and reduce the burden on healthcare professionals? And, if it did so, what are the opportunities for its reputation?
What should your pharma company talk about for the next twelve months? It’s a question that many communications and public affairs professionals ask at this time of year, and many in agency world try to help them answer. Whilst plans may have been set towards the end of 2021, it’s now when the real work starts and all the things that seemed like Communique-worthy ideas at the time have to be put into practice. So, given the state of the world, the NHS and our industry, what should pharma companies be talking about? I’ve tried to look at the answer to this question from a hundred different perspectives, and I find myself landing on the same answer.
The relatively unique nature of the UK landscape means that, for the large part, the industry has one customer – the NHS. Casual observers might think that the NHS is now emerging from the pandemic, and the worse of the demands on clinicians and services might be a thing of the past. After all, it can’t get worse than peak-Covid, surely? However, speak to those on the frontline of the health service, as we do frequently, and they will tell you a very different story. The sheer size of the backlog of patients, created by Covid, means that far from this crisis being over for the NHS, it has barely just begun. In England alone, six million people are waiting for treatment. To put that into perspective, that is a list six times larger than the population of Birmingham. A report from the Institute for Public Policy Research estimated that even if hospitals could maintain activity levels 5% above pre-pandemic levels it would still take until 2033 to clear the backlog of cancer patients.
What does this mean for pharma, and the story it needs to tell? The reality is that any company who wants its messages to land with a customer who is still in crisis-mode needs to show one thing – how it can help. Stories about innovative science and sexy R&D are all well and good, but they will fall on deaf ears unless they show how they will help the NHS get through the coming months and years. How does your innovation speed-up the patient pathway, reduce the burden of physical appointments or save precious money? And crucially, how will you work hand-in-glove with the system to deliver it? This point, on being a partner to the NHS, is also one that resonates with the public. An ABPI survey of more than 8000 people showed that public appreciated what pharma did during the worst of Covid, and the reputation of the industry has improved as a result. In 2021, seven in ten people believe industry had supported the NHS during Covid. 60 per cent said their views of the industry had improved since the pandemic, up from just 36% from the summer of 2020.
So, as you begin to return to the office to try and solve this question, it is worth remembering that your customer hasn’t returned to normal. Any company who wants to make an impact in 2022 needs to remember this and put messages about helping the NHS beat the backlog, and doing it all in partnership, at the heart of their story. Anything else, just won’t breakthrough.
Company Details
Hanover Communications
Address:
Riverside House
Southwark Bridge House
London
SE1 9HA
United Kingdom
Latest content on this profile
- Femtech: Transforming the future of women's healthcare
- Femtech is potentially the most important development in health care right now. Women's health has been under-researched and overlooked for successive generations - it's time that government and industry get ready to deliver.
Hanover Communications
- VPAS: The importance of making the right arguments, even in challenging times
- With key workers’ strikes, inflation, and immense pressure on public services, arguing for a more generous pricing settlement for the pharmaceuticals industry could not be tougher. Read our Health Director James Mole’s thoughts on the support needed to protect the UK life sciences’ ambitions, despite the challenging backdrop.
Hanover Communications
- Putting prevention at the heart of the future of the NHS
- Prioritising the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) should be at the heart of plans to safeguard the long-term sustainability of the NHS. Unfortunately, action in this area has to date not matched ambition, putting thousands of patients’ lives – and the future of the health system – at risk.
Hanover Communications
- Action on Anti-microbial resistance: Will the UK rise to the challenge
- Timely and effective antimicrobials are the cornerstone of our healthcare systems, providing life-saving treatment and supporting vital services like routine operations, transplants and cancer treatment. We are three years into the UK Government’s 20-Year Vision for Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), and the Department of Health and Social Care recently launched a consultation for the next iteration of the AMR National Action Plan (2024-2029). However, latest figures show that AMR is still on the rise. Is UK policy ambitious enough to drive innovation in AMR, and is the Government on track to contain, control and mitigate AMR by 2040?
Hanover Communications
- Winter and workforce woes: challenges facing the new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
- For the third time this year, the NHS and social care has a new Secretary of State. The appointment must now signal stability following a period of political turbulence, as we head into what health leaders are describing as the toughest winter to date. Backlogs, delayed discharges, ambulance and A&E pressures, and crumbling NHS estates will remain top of Steve Barclay’s priority list in the coming weeks and months ahead. However, he will also need to address the longstanding workforce issues that hold back both the NHS and social care sector. Only dealing with these structural challenges will ensure the health and care system is operationally fit for winters to come.
Hanover Communications
- A new 10-year cancer plan: Will the government be able to deliver what the sector needs?
- The Truss Government has committed to developing a new 10-year cancer plan. But set against the backdrop of the Secretary of States priorities, what real value can the sector expect a new cancer plan to deliver? What questions need addressing to drive impactful change for patients? Will there be funding available to support the transformation? We will explore the state of play of cancer care in England and assess the main priorities, including how they align with wider NHS challenges. We will set out the difficult choices that a new plan must confront to enable prioritisation of this complex disease area and consider the balance between taking action to impact patients now versus initiatives to benefit patients of the future.
Hanover Communications
