32-33 - PATIENT PARTNERSHIP: Joining forces

Pharmaceutical companies – large and small – who have a passion for working with others to improve patient care are being invited to enter the Patient Partnership Index 2022.

In its third year, the Patient Partnership Index has built a reputation as the UK’s leading benchmark for best practice in partnerships between pharmaceutical companies, biotechs and patient organisations. Its primary aim is to help improve patient outcomes by showcasing the very best examples of how companies communicate and engage with patient communities.

Although originally conceived before the pandemic, the impact of COVID-19 on health services and patient communities in the UK has further reinforced the vital importance of collaboration to tackle health inequalities and access to treatment while also giving patients a voice.

To enter your projects and celebrate best practice, go to patientpartnershipindex.co.uk/enter. Entries close on Friday 27 May.

Bringing together senior leaders from patient groups and industry to judge and recognise the very best work taking place in the industry today, the Patient Partnership Index works to set the standard for how pharmaceutical and biotech companies can best work with and support patient groups.

This year, the Index sees a set of both new and familiar faces on its panel of judges. Chair of judges Jenny Ousbey, CEO of OVID Health and founder of the Patient Partnership Index, returns alongside 2021 judge Sarah Woolnough, CEO of Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation.

They are joined by three new expert judges with experience across pharma, patient advocacy and health communications:

Colette Goldrick – Executive Director, Strategy, Research and Partnerships at the ABPI
John James OBE – CEO of the Sickle Cell Society
John Pinching – Editor of PharmaTimes.

Entries will be considered on a set of metrics developed by OVID Health, drawing on its experience in patient advocacy and in consultation with patient groups and industry leaders. To ensure fairness across each year and build a strong understanding of how patient-centricity is evolving, these metrics have remained unchanged since the first Patient Partnership Index was launched.

Over the judging period, the panel will evaluate entries on how they have engaged with patients and patient groups, the degree to which projects were co-created with patient partners and how projects have empowered patients. The judges will also consider how innovative projects are, what processes are in place to ensure transparency in the partnership and measurable impacts of initiatives.

The results will be announced online in mid-June, with top-scoring entries awarded gold, silver or finalist standard.

Building on the success of last year, entry criteria for partnerships this year will broaden. Alongside partnerships in patient advocacy, communications and market access, the Index will be open to best practice partnerships focusing on clinical trials and R&D. It will also allow companies to submit up to three entries, at either a UK or above-country level.

Jenny Ousbey, CEO and Founder of OVID Health and Chair of Judges said: “It’s wonderful to be bringing back the Patient Partnership Index for 2022, expanding its scope to showcase and celebrate even more examples of best practice in industry. We saw from last year’s entries that there was incredible awareness of how partnerships were working to address health inequalities and ensure their work reached as wide a group of patients as possible.”

Sarah Woolnough, CEO of Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation, said: “Returning to judge the Patient Partnership Index 2022, I’m excited to see how best practice has developed as partnerships can increasingly look to supporting patients through the recovery from COVID-19. Last year, the very best entries showed a real commitment to ensuring the importance of working with patients, and the results achieved by their partnerships were communicated internally.”

Colette Goldrick, Executive Director at the ABPI, said: “I am thrilled to be joining the judging panel for the Patient Partnership Index 2022 and strengthening the relationship between the Index and the ABPI. We will be looking to see how the objectives for joint projects have been informed by the needs and experience of the patient community, as well as how partnerships measured the impact of their efforts.
I am certain that the entries this year will set an incredibly high bar for industry to strive for.”

John James OBE, CEO of the Sickle Cell Society, said: “Being part of the Patient Partnership Index is an excellent opportunity to share best practice and raise awareness of the incredible work taking place between industry and patient groups, both in the UK and globally. Patient partnerships can make an incredible impact without having a massive budget behind them. We’ll be looking at how companies have listened to patients and used insights to develop initiatives.”

John Pinching, Editor of PharmaTimes, said: “In its third year, the Patient Partnership Index has moved from strength to strength. It’s terrific to see how pharma is working with patient groups, and a great privilege to share the lessons we’ve learnt to help raise standards across industry. We’ll be very interested to see how partnerships have taken advantage of digital strategies and new tools to hear from and speak to patients.”

Pfizer’s UK Oncology Patient Experience team and Breast Cancer Now wanted to work together to improve services for breast cancer patients. They found a shared goal in scaling up Breast Cancer Now’s work in the Service Pledge programme in Trusts to Cancer Alliance level. The Pledge aims to ensure all breast cancer patients have a voice in service delivery, ensuring they receive personalised and high-quality care.

The partnership worked with the East of England Cancer Alliance and individual hospitals in the area to identify disparities and inform action plans to address them. They reached out to local patient groups seeking feedback from patient experience to build into the project. Pfizer was able to provide additional financial support and practical assistance to Breast Cancer Now via colleague volunteering programmes when the project was challenged by the pandemic.
The collaboration resulted in Breast Cancer Now working with eight primary and secondary breast cancer services to help identify potential improvements and efficiencies for patients.

Across all services over 40 improvements were identified, including the submission of a business case for a dedicated secondary breast cancer multidisciplinary team meeting. As a result all HCPs involved reported improved understanding of patients’ perspectives.

John Pinching, Editor of PharmaTimes, said: “In its third year, the Patient Partnership Index has moved from strength to strength. It’s terrific to see how pharma is working with patient groups, and a great privilege to share the lessons we’ve learnt to help raise standards across industry. We’ll be very interested to see how partnerships have taken advantage of digital strategies and new tools to hear from and speak to patients.”

LEO Pharma’s collaboration with long-standing partner the Psoriasis Association sought to develop a deep understanding of the patient community via a survey of over 500 people living with psoriasis.

They found two-thirds of people with scalp psoriasis had deliberately avoided appointments with their barber or hairdresser. Together the partners reached out to the Lions Barber Collective, a charity training barbers to raise awareness around mental well-being and collaborated on a social media campaign to share practical tips with hairdressers, health professionals and people with psoriasis on having better conversations about the condition.

Social media impressions for the Heads Up to Psoriasis campaign were more than 3.3 million over the first four weeks, and most importantly drove behaviour change – 74% of almost 2,000 respondents online who engaged with the campaign indicated they would visit their doctor to discuss scalp psoriasis in the next six months.