How do you start and then maintain conversations to find solutions that matter for your NHS clients?
In this short article we are thinking about cancer. It doesn’t take much effort to divine that as a nation we are heading into trouble following COVID-19 and its effect on the NHS system. Arguably COVID-19 has been the catalyst that has exposed the weaknesses in the NHS, however the effect has seen a serious worsening in NHS performance, including cancer waiting times.
The challenge for businesses and suppliers to the NHS is to generate enough conversations in order to find those NHS organisations with a like mind and a willingness, including sufficient energy, to make change happen.
It has always been the case and even more so now, that if we want change to happen in the NHS we have to support the teams with whom we are collaborating, with additional management power to get projects off the ground and successfully embedded, and of course, the same is true in cancer services.
More about this in Cancer: Let’s talk about the 2-week wait.
Thinking about patient pathways at their most basic level it is arguable they are all the same.
Pharma and Medtech will have an interest in a particular point in the pathway where their solution is relevant, often at the diagnosis and treatment stages. However we know that one of the major issues facing the NHS is lack of community beds. Therefore, even though we would like to improve a particular part of the pathway it is vital that we consider our solution across the entire system.
Equally important is the consideration of the beginning of the pathway and the diagnosis phase. We know that early and timely intervention in the pathway can reduce workload further down the line. Hence the government’s investment in new diagnostic centres.
Coming back to being suppliers in the NHS, if we want to have important and relevant conversations with NHS colleagues we need to discuss the whole pathway and how we can support them across its entirety.
In terms of cancer pathways, a fantastic first step is to be fluent in the challenges they face as patients move into the pathway and are diagnosed.
FInd out more here.