Industry Charter Introduction This short document is aimed at all industry that has an interest in working with the NHS. It sets out how Imperial College Health Partners, the Academic Health Science Network for North West London, will work with industry, in particular what industry can expect from us, how we will work together, and in return what we expect from industry. Context The NHS and commercial sectors have a common interest in ensuring that the NHS is a receptive market and partner for the development and adoption of new products and services where those products contribute to improvements in the efficiency and quality of NHS services to patients. Colleagues in industry, particularly those working in new health technology or in smaller enterprises, explain the difficulties they face in gaining an attentive and empowered audience in the NHS for their products or proposals. The complex interrelationship of organisations and professional disciplines across the NHS makes it difficult for commercial organisations to effectively to sell their product into the system. One of the fundamental challenges is the perceived, and in some cases real, mismatch between the products that industry is developing for the NHS and the actual needs of the NHS. This is partly the consequence of the absence of an effective market place in which vendors may display their wares to an appropriate audience, and the difficulties of demonstrating a full cost benefit of products and the transformational impact that they may have. It is also partly a lack of appreciation on both sides of how the NHS and industry operate. There is frustration among industry, where there is a perception among some that the NHS is difficult to work with and slow to respond and adapt. There is also a level of distrust in parts of the NHS where there is a perception among some that industry tout their wares in order to earn profit without real concern for value and benefit to patients. Examples of this are industry s frustration at the relative slowness (by international comparison) of NHS services to adopt the new anticoagulants that have been approved by NICE,
and concerns among the NHS at Pharmaceutical companies who promote new proprietary drugs that are not significantly different from existing generics. Our goal Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) have been set up to enable the NHS to realise the full potential of its contribution to the wider wealth creation of the UK. To achieve this, AHSNs aim to facilitate the creation of an effective market place that enables a more constructive dialogue between the sectors, while at the same time ensuring transparency and equality of market access to avoid cherry picking and sponsorship of particular products or providers. What you can expect from us Improving mutual understanding We appreciate that industry can find it hard to navigate the complex and ever changing structures of the NHS. We will assist commercial organisations to become more familiar with the processes, structures and challenges of the NHS and facilitate effective and appropriate communication between industry and the NHS to increase appreciation on both sides. Creating an effective market place To be effective, a market place requires certain characteristics, including: An understanding of customer need and demand. We will systematically identify and formulate the priority clinical needs for new service and products across North West London, and make these known to industry. An informed customer authorised to make purchasing decisions. We will provide a matching service for industry and the NHS in North West London, bringing together appropriate forums of clinician and procurement experts to discuss need and innovative solutions in specific areas of care with potential providers. Good product information. We will work with industry to ensure that the need for cost benefit and impact analysis of innovative products and services are fully tested and communicated, including where appropriate supporting the development and testing of such information. Fair and transparent competition. We will work with representative bodies and sectors of industry rather than sponsoring or promoting
individual products or organisations in favour of their competitors. We will work with individual organisations on non-specific matters which do not directly relate to the promotion or sale of product or services. Innovative and dynamic providers. We will work to ensure that the NHS provides an attractive market and testing ground so that it remains attractive to international, and provides a sustaining environment for small and new businesses in the UK. A fertile environment for product development We are committed to supporting relevant innovation that meets identified NHS need at every stage of the process from prototype to finished product. We will offer opportunities for industry to work with us to identify and respond to specific service challenges in the sector. We will also work with organisations to find suitable opportunities and healthcare partners for the development of products which will fill a gap in the market and meet identified needs Adoption and spread of innovation and best practice One of our main objectives is to reduce the gap between what we know and what we do (e.g. implementation of NICE guidance). All our clinical projects will aim to reduce variation and improve uptake of innovation which in many cases will directly benefit industry How we will work with you Building trust and understanding is about regular dialogue and joint experience. We are therefore providing opportunities for partners and industry to interact in a number of ways. Our Industry Forum brings interested parties in our sector as well as industry representatives together, working on issues of mutual interest from our programme portfolio. We readily engage with local industry representative organisations such as the ABPI Regional Industry Group and Medilink (South East Health Technologies Alliance). We will also work with national representative organisations such as Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI) and Ethical Medical Industries Group (EMIG).
We will organise Board Seminars for our partners and may over time include contributions from industry on specific issues. We have an Expert Advisory Board with industry representatives to advise the Partnership on its overall work programme and provide a constructive challenge function. We will support individual organisations in the development of their understanding of the NHS and healthcare issues through appropriate senior meetings and contribution to seminar events. We will publish a list of meetings with industry on our website to ensure transparency and accountability. We will work with individual organisations on specific projects to develop joint solutions. Industry contributions will vary from access to analytical support to secondments of experts into project teams. We are committed to publishing the key challenges that the NHS is facing on a regular basis. These will be identified both by senior clinical leaders as well as frontline staff and will be made available on our website inviting industry responses. Throughout this process, we will work closely with NHS procurement to enable moving at pace and purchasing collectively wherever possible. We are also supporting national initiatives such as the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) which provide opportunities for industry to get funding for product and service development. What we will not provide for you We will not provide a route for direct marketing of specific products by individual companies, nor will we respond to cold calling to promote such products or services. We will not fund product development which is not in response to an identified need or in one of our priority areas; any funding we provide will be subject to due governance. We will not provide or advertise a repository of products on our website.
What we would like from industry Respond to our need: engage with the matchmaker service and respond to our challenges with product and service innovations this is a key access route into the sector. Provide high quality evidence: in order to help us understand the real potential of your innovation and move at pace, evidence on clinical efficacy, cost-effectiveness, and anticipated level of transformational impact are critical as a matter of routine information on products and services. Be truly innovative: we need you to embrace the change necessary to ensure the NHS is sustainable. This involves exploring how your products integrate into care pathways (rather than single interventions) and work with us on exploring healthcare issues, collaborate with us in analysing service challenges in the NHS. Build trust: we welcome the move towards greater transparency of evidence particularly in the pharmaceutical industry and we would like to see the greatest possible participation in transparency schemes. For more information You can find out more about Imperial College Health Partners and how we work with industry by visiting: www.imperialcollegehealthpartners.com/industry-gateway