October 2022 • PharmaTimes Magazine • 16-17
// EQUITY //
Scale of the challenge
Post-COVID the role of pharma in tackling the health gap has never been more pivotal
The UK’s growing health gap is unacceptable and we’re at a crucial time for systemic action.
Health inequalities are not new but COVID-19 has further exacerbated the already stark differences across our society. The latest data from the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) highlights the vital need to tackle these disparities, with life expectancy for men and women decreasing and the gap between the most and least deprived areas of England widening.
While the pandemic has highlighted inequalities in our nation’s health, it has also shown us the possibilities and opportunities to work dynamically together across the healthcare system, with the best in business and science coming together in the vaccine task force. The nimbleness of this national effort put the UK at the forefront of global efforts to tackle COVID and showed the power of pharma partnerships, with key learnings now driving the ambitions of the Life Sciences Vision.
With health inequalities at the top of the health agenda, our industry is in a unique position to work closely with policymakers, health systems and communities to address some of society’s most challenging healthcare issues.
Heart of the matter
Recognising this and the post-COVID opportunities for system transformation, in 2021 we launched our Health Inequalities Pledge to drive meaningful and measurable action, focusing on improving access to healthcare, enabling innovative models of care, working with the UK research community to strengthen patient inclusion in clinical research and upskilling our own people.
A key challenge in addressing health inequalities is identifying those who are at the highest risk to achieve early diagnosis and delivery of care in a timely manner. I believe pharma can play a crucial role here in addressing health inequalities through concerted action for quicker diagnosis and faster intervention, thinking not just about treating ill health but preventing it too.
Data saves lives and across the industry we know the role Population Health Management (PHM) can play in enabling a proactive, rather than reactive, approach. Opportunities for cross-industry partnerships are important in PHM and this is where our industry can play its part alongside the NHS, local authorities, other government organisations, academia and charities.
Due to its largely preventable nature, cardiovascular disease (CVD) was identified in the NHS Long Term Plan as a key area where the NHS can save lives over the next decade and is an area where we are focusing efforts and innovation. The latest OHID data also showed the latest figures on the impact of the pandemic on premature mortality for CVD, and that the most deprived communities were four times more likely to die from the condition.
‘With health inequalities at the top of the health agenda, our industry is in a unique position to work closely with policymakers’
To help address this issue, we developed a partnership with Our Healthier South East London Integrated Care System to identify the most at-risk groups and the drivers that impact their behaviour, to find and co-design solutions to provide faster diagnoses and earlier CVD intervention. We hope this will benefit the NHS in treating underserved communities, while also acting as a blueprint for other health conditions.
Tailored solutions
Another area benefiting from close partnerships between our industry, service providers and the third sector is the development of innovative new solutions. Investment in new models of care is required to help those at greatest risk of health inequalities during the care pathway, including improved access to diagnostics, preventive interventions, digital solutions and health literacy support tailored to at-risk groups.
As an industry, we can also look to support and partner with health-tech start-ups to achieve action on health inequalities at pace and scale. Recently we launched Novartis Biome UK Heart Health Catalyst 2022, an initiative to identify and implement solutions that empower patients to improve their heart health, and to help prevent future heart attacks or strokes through home-based digital solutions. Applications are open to health-tech start-up founders, researchers and technologists working on innovative solutions to enable system-wide change in CVD patient care pathways.
As well as identifying new solutions in partnership with others, strengthening patient inclusion in clinical research is vital. We need to work with partners across the research ecosystem to improve patient engagement, inclusion and access to trials so that patients from all backgrounds have the opportunity to participate, whether this is in more rural communities or ethnic minority groups who are typically underserved when it comes to research.
Knowledge is also key and by upskilling our staff, we can ensure the industry is equipped with the understanding, tools and insights, to meaningfully engage and collaborate with healthcare systems, and co-produce initiatives designed to tackle health inequalities at system and place level.
In addition to upskilling our own employees we have partnered with the Royal College of Physicians and have funded a new clinical fellow in health inequality to develop practical advice and guidance to help doctors address health inequality in their practices.
One step beyond
Beyond collaborating with the NHS to develop solutions that can address health inequalities, our industry has a key role to play in looking internally to address the wider inequalities and the social determinates of health.
Earlier this year, NHS England provided a framework detailing ten ways organisations and businesses can play their part in tackling health inequalities, from fair recruitment practices to supporting employees with their health and well-being.
The gap-closing framework from the NHS includes:
- Fair recruitment practices, including good working conditions and paying the living wage
- Supporting employees with health and wellbeing
- Outsourcing ethically
- Becoming green and more sustainable
- Supporting digital inclusion
- Working in partnership with communities to design products and services
- Working in partnership with integrated care systems
- Making Corporate Social Responsibility meaningful
- Embedding health inequalities into strategy
- Using shareholder influence to drive action.
Across Novartis, we have adopted all ten areas as part of our pledge, from integrating health inequalities into our core strategy to promoting digital inclusion to committing to a living wage internationally. In addition to achieving carbon neutrality in our operations globally by 2024, we have also announced our ambition to achieve net zero across our value chain by 2040, fully aligned to the NHS’s own target.
Overall, the whole healthcare ecosystem needs a bold approach to tackling health inequalities. Across the industry, we need to take the opportunities provided to us by the pandemic for more agile partnerships while also looking within our own businesses for ways to improve the health and well-being of those around us.
By being proactive and seizing the opportunity for innovation and change, the pharma industry can help make crucial progress in reducing health inequalities and ensure that nobody is left behind when it comes to healthcare and quality of life.
Marie-Andrée Gamache is Country President at Novartis UK & Ireland. Go to Novartis.co.uk
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