The birth of the new, deregulated NHS came only days before the death of the politician whose career made it possible. Pf looks back on the legacy of the Thatcher era for healthcare in the UK.

When Margaret Thatcher died on the 8th April, they were still removing the last shreds of bubble wrap from the new NHS structure. The blueprint of the Health and Social Care Act (2012) is a monument to Thatcherism. It transforms the NHS from a nationally owned, publicly funded healthcare system to one driven by competition and governed by business law – a system designed for rapid, continuous change under the influence of market forces.

The architect of these reforms, Andrew Lansley, is a politician very much in the Thatcher mould: autocratic, forceful, not worried about consensus. His statement that the Government’s ‘listening exercise’ was only necessary because the doctors had to have the reforms explained to them was straight out of the Iron Lady handbook.

In order to assess the impact of Thatcher’s legacy on healthcare, it’s essential to appreciate that NHS market reforms began on her watch. Even the relatively minor step of outsourcing hospital cleaning was casting a shadow over hospital care decades later.

And the fundamental reforms outlined in 1989 – the NHS internal market and the purchaser/provider split – laid the foundations of the market reforms that followed under the governments of Major, Blair, Brown and Cameron. As historian Charles Webster has observed, the 1980s and 1990s saw “continuous revolution” for the NHS.

It’s become a cliché of retrospectives on Thatcher to say that the Iron Lady ‘left the NHS alone’. It’s true that her government had other fish to fry, notably the onslaught on the manufacturing industries and their trade unions that culminated in the miners’ strike.

Thatcher noted in her memoirs that in most respects, the NHS provided “high quality care at reasonably modest unit cost” and commanded public “affection”. She was in no hurry to privatise it – but that did not mean she left it alone.

Iron rations

However, the Thatcher government’s first health policy initiative was one of deliberate inaction. The Black Report into health inequalities, published in 1980 after a failed Conservative attempt to block its publication, noted that health inequalities in the UK were linked to socio-economic factors such as income, housing and conditions of work. The Government rejected the report’s findings and recommendations.

The 1980s were not an easy decade for the NHS. Major developments in drug therapies and surgery increased healthcare expectations and costs, while a massive increase in unemployment accentuated public health needs. The main theme of Thatcher’s health policy was cost control, building on the public spending restraints of the Callaghan government. The phrase ‘death by a thousand cuts’ became endemic in health journalism.

Diabetes patient Richard Grimes recalls the austerity climate of the NHS at that time: “My memories of that clinic were peeling paint on the outside and a filled waiting room on the inside. The most bitter memory was the battle the British Diabetic Association had with the government over disposable needles. I was expected to inject twice a day with re-usable needles. These got blunt quickly, but I was expected to use them for months. As a result I developed scar tissue in my injection sites. Finally the Thatcher government relented and I got sharp needles.”

Two significant policies of the early Thatcher years increased the role of the private sector in healthcare. In 1980, NHS consultants’ contracts were changed to allow all to do private work with no detriment to their NHS income (previously those also doing private work were paid about 18% less). As a result, it became the norm for consultants to divide their time between the public and private sectors.

In 1983, the government legislated to make hospitals put their cleaning services out to competitive tender. This meant that the job of cleaning wards went to the lowest bidder – often to companies that used casual, untrained sta. supplied by job centres. The contrast between the high quality of surgical treatment and the dirtiness of wards became notorious. The level of hospital-acquired infections grew steadily, until in 2005 the Lancet noted that the UK had “one of the highest rates of MRSA in the world”.

Thatcher wanted to introduce more radical changes – such as a shift to an insurance based healthcare model, with ‘health stamps’ for the poor – but in a busy decade, her battles with trade unions and left-wing Labour councils took priority.

The great divide

The third Thatcher term saw a crisis of hospital capacity, provoking a review of the NHS that aimed to address its financial problems through competition. The 1989 White Paper Working for Patients gave rise to the NHS and Community Care Act (1990), engineered by the ambitious Health Secretary Kenneth Clarke within the Major government. It introduced two important reform policies.

The NHS internal market separated the functions of purchasers (health authorities) and providers (hospitals and other organisations). The latter competed for service contracts within a business framework. Hospitals became trusts: independent, self-managed bodies. By 1997 almost all NHS hospitals were trusts. One effect of this change was that administration costs doubled from 6% to 12% of the NHS budget.

GP fundholding was an attempt to develop a similar framework for primary care. Family doctors were encouraged to join a scheme whereby they received budgets to buy non-emergency care services from NHS providers, instead of relying on those purchased in bulk by their health authority.

Fundholding doctors were often able to obtain services more quickly than those outside the scheme. By 1997 about 50% of GPs were fundholders. The scheme cooled the professional relationship between primary and secondary care, and many patients saw it as a ‘two-tier’ healthcare model.

The internal market and GP fundholding can be seen as a dry run for the current NHS reforms, which embody the same principles but strengthen them by reshaping the health system around them.

Dragon’s Den

‘Save the NHS’ was a key slogan for Labour in the 1997 election: its campaign played on the unpopularity of the internal market and GP fundholding. Blair’s first Health Secretary, Frank Dobson, proudly announced the abolition of both policies. But as Peter Mandelson has said, New Labour’s programme was continuous with . atcherism – and soon, Dobson and his beard were forgotten and Alan Milburn was turning the NHS into a Dragon’s Den for private providers. Webster notes that Blair did far more than Thatcher to bring the private sector into the NHS.

Facing the challenges of growing demand and innovative therapies, especially in cancer and mental health care, Milburn’s NHS Plan (2000) ushered in a new world of NHS ‘modernisation’: Private Finance Initiatives, Practice Based Commissioning, Payment by Results, Foundation Trusts (which were self-funding), and the new mantra of NHS reform: ‘patient choice’.

Under Brown’s leadership, however, the Mid Staffordshire tragedy knocked the wheels off the reform agenda. Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary left to clear up after the worst ever failure in NHS care, slowed down the transition of acute trusts to Foundation Trust status. His successor, Andy Burnham, reacted to problems with Independent Sector Treatment Centres – who withheld their performance data as ‘commercially confidential’ – by stating the NHS to be the ‘preferred provider’ of elective surgery. With language like that, you’d think he was in the Labour Party.

Here comes the son

In opposition, Conservative activists published a policy book called Direct Democracy (2005). It claimed the NHS was “no longer relevant”, and proposed a system whereby patients were funded “either through the tax system or by way of universal insurance, to purchase health care from the provider of their choice” – with the poor having their contributions “supplemented or paid for by the state”. The authors included future Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

In its 2010 election manifesto, the Conservatives promised an end to the relentless NHS reforms of the previous government: it would inflict no major structural changes on the NHS. Once in power, with no sense of irony, Lansley introduced his reform programme as the first major NHS reform since 1948.

However, the Cameron government learned an important lesson from the Thatcher years. The Iron Lady’s confrontational style rallied supporters, but also gave opposition a clear point of attack.

In selling the NHS reforms to the public, Cameron kept repeating two points: the NHS budget would remain ring-fenced, and NHS services would remain free. We now know that the £20bn saved under the ‘Nicholson challenge’ is going straight back to the Treasury; and Malcolm Grant has warned us that after 2015, charges for NHS services are on the cards.

So, in bringing off a health policy revolution that Thatcher would have been proud of, Cameron utilised a spin technique that carried Blair’s fingerprints: Don’t show your hand.

The NHS has a national diabetes strategy it doesn’t use, NICE diabetes guidelines it doesn’t follow, and a crisis in the care of a treatable disease. What went wrong? Pf attends a conference to find out.

Diabetes: a call for action was the name of a conference held in Harrogate on 23rd April for healthcare providers and other stakeholders in the troubled world of NHS diabetes care. The question in everyone’s mind was: Why is NHS treatment for diabetes failing? The answer, as the day would reveal, is multi-faceted and has to do with changes in the NHS and in modern life. There are vital lessons for industry here: the value of a drug does not depend on molecular chemistry, but on how the drug is used and what it achieves in the real world of patients.

When it comes to diabetes, industry is already hard at work. Every year sees new drugs and delivery systems, as well as technologies for monitoring and risk factor identification. Every year brings that ideal solution, the ‘artificial pancreas’, a step closer. But every year, 24,000 people in the UK die from preventable complications of diabetes. Why? Because the NHS is not geared to help patients live with long-term conditions.

The non-appearance of one speaker, NICE’s Professor Mike Kelly, seemed a symptom of the lack of priority given to diabetes care in the NHS. A combination of better public health education, earlier diagnosis and new treatments has improved the survival rates of people with serious diseases such as heart disease and cancer. Less progress has been made with diabetes. Yet, as the conference showed, good solutions for prevention and treatment of diabetes exist.

Disturbing figures

Simon O’Neill of Diabetes UK gave a keynote address on ‘Meeting the challenge’. He noted that in the UK, the incidence of diabetes has doubled in the last two decades, and 75,000 people die from the disease each year. A third of these deaths are preventable. The good news, he said, is that the problem can be fixed: “It’s not rocket science.” As for the bad news –well, where do you start?

Diabetes care takes up 10% of the NHS budget, and 80% of that money is spent on treating complications. Of an estimated 3.8 million people with diabetes in the UK, about 800,000 remain undiagnosed, and half of these have complications such as damage to the eyes, kidneys or peripheral nerves. By 2025, if current trends continue, five million people in the UK will have diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) accounts for 90% of cases and has seen the most rapid increase, due to changes in diet and lifestyle across society. However, the incidence of type 1 diabetes (T1D), which is hereditary, is also increasing for reasons that are not well understood. The words of poet Louis MacNeice in 1934, “the excess sugar of a diabetic culture”, are beginning to sound eerily prophetic.

Diabetes is “the number one health threat in the UK”, O’Neill said – but investment in prevention and education is seriously lacking. The effective DAFNE and DESMOND self-management courses for patients with T1D and T2D respectively are being cut back. The Public Accounts Committee has described NHS diabetes care as “depressingly poor”.

Only 20% of patients meet the recommended targets for blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol. Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness and amputations in people of working age.

Ways to improve this situation include health education, care planning, integrated care and a national implementation strategy. These are not happening. O’Neill observed that care integration will suffer from the Any Qualified Provider framework, which separates services between providers who don’t communicate with each other. Speaking as a patient, he noted that he has to carry his own case notes with him from one clinic to another. One major imperative, he said, was ensuring patient access to diabetes specialist nursing teams – but these are disappearing.

Ways forward

Dr Shahrad Taheri, a diabetes expert from the University of Birmingham, examined the relationship between T2D and obesity. While our society is getting to grips with the problem of smoking, the more complex public health problem of obesity is continuing to escalate.

Obesity carries a high risk of T2D, especially in women. The issue is complicated by the fact that weight gain is a common side-effect of oral diabetes medications such as metformin.

To tackle the epidemic of T2D, Dr Taheri said, it is essential to look beyond a narrow focus on HbA1c (a metric for long-range blood glucose control). Such a “formulaic” approach is not adequate to this complex problem. Medication needs to form part of a structured care plan that encompasses diet and exercise. But where are the “multidisciplinary” care teams able to deliver this approach?

Grace Vanterpool MBE, a diabetes specialist nurse, looked at care from the other side: the patient’s self-management. People with diabetes have, on average, less than two hours’ contact with a healthcare professional in a year. The self-management skills they need include self-monitoring, setting targets and goals, and managing acute complications. To achieve this, they need an integrated personal care plan that is not just a list of treatments: it has to include outcomes.

The development of such plans depends on local leadership to improve the training of clinicians and the education of patients, Vanterpool argued. Raising self-management to a high level must be part of a community-based service. The care plan must be adapted to the individual’s age, co-morbidities and way of life. This led to a useful discussion of ways to manage the risk of hypoglycaemic episodes: temporary side-effects of medication that can be traumatic and dangerous for patients.

Dr Kyran Farrell, a GP, explained how the First Diabetes programme for integrated care has helped primary and secondary care professionals to work together to the benefit of ‘problem patients’ in Derby. The programme challenged the “silo mentality” of GPs and hospital specialists, improving the patient experience and developing the expertise available in primary care.

In its first year, the programme treated 450 patients and discharged 118, of whom 85 were achieving good HbA1c control. Patient feedback was positive and cost savings, in terms of reduced complications, were significant. The patients targeted were mostly in the 30–55 age range, identified as being least likely to engage well with diabetes services (partly because of work priorities).

First Diabetes was effective in addressing the self-neglect common among such patients. Dr Moira Harrison, a diabetes expert from the University of Brighton, discussed the need for fresh approaches to break the cycle of poor diabetes control and depression. She noted that a narrow focus on HbA1c control often went together with a judgemental clinical attitude: “In no other condition is so much blame attached to treatment failure.” A dual approach is needed, she argued: patients need to be empowered through education and given the tools for effective control.

Intensive TD1 control increases the risk of hypoglycaemia, which can be a major disincentive for the patient. Dr Harrison presented a unique innovation: the ‘hypo dog’, trained to respond to changes in the patient’s smell during low blood sugar episodes and respond by fetching glucose or pressing an alarm button. As an adjunct to medication, the ‘hypo dog’ can greatly improve the patient’s confidence.

Dr Harrison also discussed the development of ‘closed loop’ systems that combine continuous blood glucose monitoring with variable-dose insulin delivery via a ‘pump’.

Such systems, though costly and vulnerable to damage, are taking T1D patients closer to the ideal solution: an ‘artificial pancreas’.

Losing control

The second keynote address came from Dr Adrian Sanders, Lib Dem MP and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Diabetes, who discussed “the urgent need for a national implementation plan”. He lamented the failure of the NHS to implement its National Strategic Framework for diabetes, as evidenced by the “explosion” in T2D and the fact that only half of people with diabetes receive the nine NICE recommended checks. He also noted that the diabetes ‘Tsar’ has been demoted.

This downgrading of diabetes “sends the wrong signals to the NHS,” he warned: it will reduce local budgets and encourage service fragmentation. Like other speakers, he stressed the need for integrated care and warned that the combination of austerity budgets and NHS deregulation will make that more difficult. On the latter trend, he commented: “There is an ideology behind what is happening that is very, very dangerous.” No clearer indication could be given of the tensions within the coalition over health policy.

Confirming a recent statement by Malcolm Grant, Sanders said the Government was considering such financial strategies for the NHS as co-payment and health insurance.

The only alternative, he said, was effective integration at a national level to identify and share better practice. However, he warned, the current trend of NHS reform was towards disintegration – “not to empower local people, but to take responsibility off the hands of Government”.

This excellent conference showed that the crisis of diabetes care in the UK is not just one of treatment, but one of care integration, clinical skills and patient education. There are clear opportunities for the pharmaceutical industry to help address this crisis. Firstly, by developing better ways to deliver medication and integrate it with monitoring; and secondly, by working with an overloaded NHS to ensure that treatment is effective where it counts: not in the clinic, but in patients’ everyday lives.

Sophie ‘vinyl scientist’ Hipgrave activates her glow sticks, hydrates responsibly and heads for club land, where she requests eight pulsating dance tunes that will help you keep fresh and alert, as you pump up the volume (of your sales)!

Contemporary tunes...

Don’t You Worry Child, Swedish House Mafia, 2012, #1

‘Don’t You Worry Child’ was released as the group’s farewell track in 2012. In the UK, it debuted at number one and was the 13th bestselling single of the year. The keyboard riff will have you tapping your fingers on the wheel, while the reflective (soppy) lyrics will leave you uplifted (and possibly a little emotional). We would suggest waiting until you’re at a red light before throwing your hands in airwards during the highly-addictive chorus. It’ll certainly have you all revved up and ready to boost sales.

White Noise, Disclosure feat. Aluna George, 2013, #2

‘White Noise’ is Disclosure’s second official single, with their first, ‘Latch’, peaking at number 11 in the charts last October. The young brothers, 17 and 20, were previously championed by the likes of Annie Mac and Pete Tong. The female half of electro-pop duo – AlunaGeorge– features on the track, with a cool, hooky vocal; reminiscent of early 90s dance. The repetitive melody and funky beats mean that this is one that you can’t help but sing along to. This fresh new sound looks like the beginning of an exciting era, as house makes a play for the mainstream again.

Need U (100%), Duke Dumont feat. *A*M*E, 2013, #1

Another fantastic example of house making the charts, as Duke Dumont, a rising producer from the UK, lands his first UK No.1 with ‘Need U (100%)’. The track feels like a 90s club classic, with its catchy vocals and a catchy riff which can only be described as a strange melodic hum. Be seduced by the soft lyrics and crisp beat drops. An easy-listen that’ll have you grinning and bopping your head as you conjure up your next seductive sale strategy.

Spectrum (Calvin Harris Remix), Florence and the Machine, 2012, #1

Mixed by DJ Calvin Harris, ‘Spectrum’ became Florence and the Machine’s first No.1 when it reached the summit last year. This pop-dance track will have you feeling energised and positive for the day ahead. The uplifting lyrics will give you a boost of confidence and have you urging people to ‘say your name’ after your sales pitch. If you don’t like Florence, you should have a listen to this as it’s not her usual sound. Her folky vocals set this apart from the rest and you’ll look forward to the fist-pumping chorus.

Club classics...

Needin’ U, David Morales, 1998, #8

This catchy repetitive melody will have you bopping your head, busting out shapes and tapping your steering wheel all the way down the motorway as you reminisce about those seemingly endless summer holidays. This one shows meaningful lyrics aren’t always the key to a great track – just two words to motivate you for the rest of your day. Now repeat after me, ‘they will be needin’ you… needin’ you… needin’ you…needin’ you’.

Born Slippy, Underworld, 1996, #2

This iconic track brilliantly captures the Nineties rave scene and is widely recognised as one of the greatest dance tracks of all time. It also represented a significant milestone as hardcore dance music moved from the underground to mainstream. Although it was released originally in 1995, the hype surrounding it didn’t catch on until it appeared in Trainspotting (1996). Mixing elements of techno, house, drum and bass and pop with looping phrases, this epic tune will transport you back to the warehouse parties of your youth.

Dreamer, Livin’ Joy, 1995, #1

The Nineties encapsulated the era of great dance music, and this track is perfect to represent the revolution at its best. Never failing to fill the dancefloor to this day, the track has sing-along, seductive lyrics to relate to, a fast, repetitive beat for quick, decisive moves and a mantra that adorns households across the UK; love, life and laughter. ‘Don’t Stop Movin’ is another terrific track by this Italian duo, providing another perfect portal back to the Nineties.

You Don’t Know Me, Armand Van Helden, 1999, #1

Using a sample from Carrie Lucas’s ‘Dance With You’, American DJ and producer Armand Van Helden made ‘You Don’t Know Me’ one of the most popular dance tunes of the decade. In contrast to the electronic dance music of today, this track feels more light-hearted. It has a ‘good, clean fun’ feel to it, while the lyrics are empowering and catchy. Considering he’s known for his links to speed garage, this one’s an easy listen which will have you feeling at once relaxed and, possibly, a little defensive after singing, ‘You don’t even know me’ repeatedly.

Author: Sophie

Raving mad...

Pf’s poppingly polished playlist has probably got you reaching for your dancing shoes. Before venturing towards the flashing lights, don’t forget the essentials that will have you two-stepping ‘til the early hours.

Your basics should include a smiley-face tee – preferably oversized – paired with leggings or hot-pants of choice. Alternatively, stand out with striking tie-dye, sequins or metallic garments. Pumps and trainers are the preferred shoe, with converse topping the charts over recent years. Add a platform to ensure the DJ is in full view at all times.

Opt for a rucksack in the furry, neon variety or a bum-bag to carry your chewing gum, water and shades. Frame your eyes with UV paint, glitter and sequins. Don’t forget lip balm – it not only hydrates lips, but helps stick sequins too.

If you want to go old skool, interact with your fellow ravers using a whistle and white gloves. Women should accessorise with a tutu, fishnets and legwarmers, while men can try a boiler suit out for size.

Jewellery options vary, with plastic being the preferred option. Adorn neck and wrists with brightly beaded friendship bracelets and glow-sticks or use confectionary – like an edible candy necklace –for a sweet finish.

Choice cuts...

DJ Pinch selects a couple of pitch-perfect vinyl masterpieces from the dawn of dance

Blue Monday, New Order, 1983, #9

After the untimely death of their tormented lead singer Ian Curtis, Joy Division entered the new decade, appropriately, as ‘New Order’. Emerging from the relentless misery of Britain in the 1970s, the band’s fascination with electronic soundscapes referenced the dawn of a new, indulgent and computerised age; resulting in the germination of modern dance music. Indeed, their global smash hit ‘Blue Monday’ was arguably the genre’s first authentic commercial track. It became the highest selling 12” record of all time and particularly embodied the recreational drug-fuelled ‘scene’merging from Manchester during the mid-to-late eighties.

With its raw drum machine, meandering keyboards and haunting vocals, it was a track that derived most pleasure when played at a deafening volume in the Hacienda nightclub.

Pump Up the Volume, M/A/R/R/S, 1987, #1

It had been the name of a planet and an item of confectionary but, in the year of our Lord, 1987, it emerged as a mysterious and exciting purveyor of highly experimental dance music (the extra ‘R’ and use of oblique symbols only added to the enigmatic gravitas). Above all, M/A/R/R/S proved that ‘underground’ dance music could make an impact on the commercial chart. They total abandoned conventional production, preferring a pioneering tapestry of scratching, sampling, disturbing industrial strains, tribal chanting and the, now-iconic, instruction to the dance floor – ‘Pump up the volume, pump up the volume, pump up the volume, dance, dance’. The hit was ubiquitous for several years and its position at the chart’s summit, paved the way for dance music to regularly achieve mainstream success.

Lord Pinching of Maxwell House meets Greek Goddess, Pf cover girl and Leo Pharma legend, Antonia Moutafis, for another caffeine-laced study of the human condition.

I turn off the M5 in Bristol, alight from my vehicle and take custody of two comfortable armchairs, in the lounge area of a famous franchise hotel. I’m confident that Antonia will recognise me; after all, she studied Modern Greek, and knows an Adonis when she sees one. Sure enough, the beaming smile from April’s sacred cover advances towards me without hesitation.

Don’t I know you?

Yes, you keep seeing me on the front of magazines!

When did you find out you were on the front cover of Pf?

My friend, a fellow rep, texted me really early on a Saturday morning and said, ‘have you seen it?’ Then I received my copy and thought, ‘Oh my goodness!’ After that, people in the marketing department started emailing me, saying they’d seen me.

What was it like picking up your Medical Representative UK, Pf Award?

It’s all such a blur. It was so exciting and my heart was racing. For a week I was asking myself, ‘did that actually happen?’

Tell me about your Greek odyssey

I’m half Greek and my dad, who has his own upholstery company, still lives in Greece. I’ve always spoken Greek since I was a child, so I really wanted to return and discover more about the language. I studied at the University of Birmingham for a degree in Modern Greek, which included an amazing year at the University of Athens. It was great because there were people from all over Europe on the course and everyday would be a new adventure; visiting museums and going on boat trips. I also learnt about the classics, Eastern Mediterranean history, modern literature and film.

Was it very different studying in Greece compared to England?

I went over there in 2004 and it was one of the most politically turbulent years for Greek students, because the government were trying to privatise higher education. University had always been free, so everyday outside the houses of parliament there would be students protesting and throwing Molotov cocktails, while the police were letting off tear gas. We’d just be standing there, taking photos!

Tell me about the origins of your excellent name

In Greece daughters are named after their father’s mother, so my Greek grandmother is Antonia and, consequently, I’ve got four other cousins, all called Antonia Moutafis!

Where does your work ethic come from?

My sister, Francesca, and I were brought up in England by my lovely mother and grandmother, who instilled in us the importance of work and not being spoilt. From a young age I was waitressing and, before I went to university, worked in customer service during my gap year. I also continued at the same company during the holidays and this work experience gave me a real advantage after I graduated.

Modern Greek to pharma is quite a transition, how did it happen?

After getting my degree, my mother suggested that I write directly to companies saying, ‘I want to work for you’. One of them was GR Lane Health Products, in Gloucester, and they gave me a position as an export account manager. I was selling Olbas Oil and Kalms Tablets to the global market, including Greece, which was my biggest account, and also managing all the distributers. I did that for a couple of years, but then I spoke to a friend of mine who worked for Lundbeck. He said, ‘you should work in pharma, it’s a great job; you manage your own diary, you’ve got a budget and targets and it’s like running your own business’. As a result, I went to Chase, the recruitment agent and they put me forward for a position with Leo Pharma, covering Bristol and South Glos. I met Angus, my boss, who’s an absolute inspiration, and after a second interview, got the job.

What’s your approach to work?

I’m very passionate, enthusiastic and career-driven. My success comes from believing in what I’m doing, working incredibly hard and putting my heart into it. What’s the point in doing something just to pay the bills? It’s an incredible privilege to enter an industry where you’re changing people’s lives and I’m very proud of that.

Do you enjoy the buzz of Bristol?

I cover one of the most challenging areas in the UK, but I am living proof that if you keep going, grow a thick skin, and be yourself, without doing the pushy sales thing, it’s amazing where you can get. I have some brilliant relationships with surgeries in the area and they will even contact me to come and see them [rather than the other way round]. People give up too easily; if you are determined enough you will get the results.

What does the company do to help staff reach those performance levels?

Leo has a superb sales model called ‘Connect 4’. It emphasises that the whole sales structure is around having credibility, connecting curiously, a rapport with clients and being natural. It’s about your connections; with GPs, and the products you’re selling. You get so many people who come into a historically difficult region and never come back because one receptionist says ‘no’, but we’re encouraged to be genuine, and that can change perceptions very quickly.

It sounds like you’re impressed by how the company views you and your colleagues

Leo Pharma invest in you as a person and have values that I can relate to. The sales model allows you to be an individual and, importantly, prove that the pharma sales stereotype is untrue. My wonderful colleagues and I are on the phone constantly, supporting each other, providing feedback and sharing ideas.

Also, there aren’t many companies who are foundations and plough all their profits into new treatments, and research and development.

What products do you specialise in?

I sell Dovobet gel which treats body and scalp psoriasis, and we’ve just launched, Picato. When it comes to things like psoriasis, acne and eczema, because it is unlikely to kill you, it is sometimes not taken very seriously and, yet, there are huge psychological factors in terms of how society judges skin conditions. I had a friend with long hair and she used Dovobet gel, on her flaking scalp. It is not tarry and smelly like traditional treatments, and it worked, allowing her to wear what she wanted and restoring her confidence. That is why I am so passionate about these fantastic products; they transform people’s lives. I see part of my job as helping people function; go to the gym, go on a date or go swimming, without being prejudiced. The thing about psoriasis is that we could all wake up with it tomorrow.

How did your knowledge of these products help you to claim the Pf Award?

When I delivered my presentation, I told the truth about what I do, and demonstrated how I had used creative thinking in my role. For example, in Bristol, there is a real need for dermatological education and we set up a series of meetings in the community, attended by GPs and consultants. They were a great way of improving the focus on dermatology and raising awareness.

Did you relish being in the spotlight?

I loved the assessment day. It was great a great experience and I got to meet lots of interesting people. As I was getting marked my competitive side really emerged and I was very motivated during my sales pitches and presentations.

What are you ambitions?

I’d like to carry on enjoying what I’m doing, keep learning, develop my skills and, above all, retain my passion.

What do you do to achieve the golden challis of work/life balance?

I enjoy going to the gym, beach volleyball and playing tennis. My favourite stroke is the smash, naturally. I also love spending time with friends and family. We’ve got a lovely house on the tiny Greek Island of Cyclades. It’s my ultimate escapism. In August there’s about 2000 people, and in winter, 200. There are a couple of bars, a few supermarkets and only one road. When we go there we literally just walk, swim, drink and read. All you can do is relax.

Sounds blissful, Antonia.

As the use of electronic media to illustrate and amplify the sales message becomes more prevalent within the pharmaceutical industry, Pf looks at the diverse e-detailing services available to companies.

Ever since the term ‘e-mail’ was invented by a Yorkshireman provoked by a Chippendales poster into reconsidering his lifestyle, the commercial possibilities of electronic media have remained an enticing but uncertain prospect. In the last decade, a wave of companies ‘went online’ only to discover that the revenue did not join them there. Business relationships are subject to inertia, and a new medium has to prove its value within the existing frame of reference.

For the pharmaceutical industry, the dilemma is particularly striking: doctors are certainly ‘early adopters’ of technology at work, but they are also slow to trust and slow to commit as customers. It’s hard enough to succeed using the tried and tested methods of face to face product detailing, without having to bridge the extra doubt and impatience that doctors will bring to electronic media.

However, two factors favour the smart deployment of e-detailing strategies. The first is that a well-judged combination of telephone and online communications can save huge amounts of time for both the customer and the pharmaceutical sales professional. The telephone on its own lacks visual impact, while electronic media lack personal warmth; but the combination has significant customer traction without the time costs of travelling and setting up meetings.

The second factor is that as NHS reform places purchasing decisions more and more in the hands of ‘economic prescribers’ – procurement specialists who think in commercial terms – the sales model is shifting away from the territory of GP practices and hospitals to one that more closely resembles the office environment of business. Electronic messages are more likely to resonate with these new customers.

A delicate balance

As the old saying goes, the devil is in the detail. Torsten W. Bernewitz of ZS Associates argues that traditional detailing has become too expensive both for the pharma industry and for the NHS. Industry needs to utilise the reach and efficiency of electronic media without sacrificing the real sales benefits of customer relationships. The role of e-detailing, he argues, is “additive”: it facilitates traditional detailing instead of replacing it. The challenge for the company is to optimise its sales model across the “promotional mix”.

According to Bernewitz, the blend of detailing methods needs to be tailored to the customer segment and product area. E-detailing cannot be left to technology specialists: it has to be well integrated within the sales and marketing teams. The easy reach of electronic media makes it easier to deploy them in a flexible way across a range of customers and sales professionals. The ‘white space’ of territories that lack good customers can thus be minimised. This approach also gives the customer more control and convenience.

Bernewitz concludes that the best approaches to e-detailing “utilise technology to enhance core business processes rather than substantially alter them”. Just transferring detailing aids into new media won’t work: a new sales model has to be developed through experience, and the companies that gain most from e-detailing will be those “that go down this learning curve fastest”.

 That does not mean, however, that you’re on your own.

Attention to e-detail

The Ashfield Division has eight Contact Centres around the world, including one in the UK. They are run by an experienced management team that creates tailored services for clients. The Centres provide appointment and meeting booking services; medical information and rapid response services; and clinical services, such as adherence and clinical triage programmes.

One of the key services is e-detailing. This is the use of visual aids in electronic form to support telesales. The complexity and interactivity of these visual materials “can be flexed to meet the individual requirements of the project from both the client and customer point of view,” explains Business Unit Director Helen Miles.

Client Account Manager Eloise Rogers adds: “the combination of telephone with visual aids is potent. What you see has the potential to enhance what you hear and therefore remember, especially if the product or service is new. In telesales, e-detailing can mean anything from a PDF visual aid sent via an e-mail to support a telephone conversation, to an interactive microsite including click to chat.”

The Centre has its own IT team, which creates bespoke interactive solutions. They can develop microsites linked to Ashfield’s customer relationship management software, fully integrated into the client’s IT systems. This can help the field force see exactly which customers have been contacted by phone, optimising the combination of sales approaches and driving the right sales outcome.

E-detailing is successful, says Helen, when “you add value to the customer” in terms of interactions or information they would otherwise not receive, and do so in a way that delivers the right sales outcome.

To meet the needs of clients, Helen argues, three things are essential: “the right IT infrastructure, a flexible understanding of the environment and the marketplace, and the right person with the right skills on the phone.

“We pride ourselves on being able to match the individuals with the appropriate projects. We provide many different types of services, each requiring different skills. We have concierge roles where an individual works with the field force to book appointments, conduct meeting follow-ups and create stakeholder maps; right the way up to virtual key account managers who are dealing autonomously with payors and heads of medicines management. We also have the more traditional healthcare practitioner-focused roles, along with teams of nurses and scientists providing adherence programmes, telephone triage and medical information services.

“We don’t have a one-size-fits-all approach to e-detailing or telesales. We sit down with our clients and understand exactly what they need. We focus on what success looks like and then present the appropriate solutions. It’s about dovetailing the needs of the client with the right technical service, creating the optimal value proposition for the individual customer.”

The brand perspective

For Quintiles, the provision of e-detailing services is a major focus: Ross MacPhee, Director of Multi-Channel Operations, emphasises that the starting point with any such project is understanding the brand strategy and selecting the right channel for the message and the healthcare professional audience.

Always, Ross notes, remote e-detailing is “one element of an integrated channel strategy, rather than a replacement for the face to face representative. It should be an integral part of the mix, with information being shared consistently across channels, in line with brand strategy.”

Quintiles aims to support both companies that are new to e-detailing and ones that have experience of it; “our experience in engaging with healthcare professionals via traditional and new digital channels means we can provide insights to help biopharma companies deploy the right information via the channel that is appropriate for their message and that their customer is most receptive to.”

What characterises Quintiles’ e-detailing services, he says, is a combination of factors: “the insights, the people that we employ and how we lead and manage them, the global operational and compliance processes that we have in place, and the technology that facilitates the interactions”. Not all remote e-detailing services are the same.

In terms of technology, Quintiles focuses on the healthcare professional’s ease of access to an online meeting room and the system’s ability to capture feedback and metrics to inform closed loop marketing strategy. “. These days everybody is time poor,” says Ross. “So the sales professional needs a platform that is easy for the customer to engage with, but also leverages an ability to gain more insight into the customer’s preferences.”

At the same time, with e-detailing “you are still managing a team of sales people”. Quintiles is careful not to under-manage its e-detailing staff; they may not be on the road, but their role does present challenges in terms of optimising time use and information delivery. Ross explains: “. The element of repetition makes it necessary to think carefully about the motivation of staff and make sure their working environment is dynamic and offers focus and cohesion. Providing incentives and adding fun are important for maintaining high quality interactions.”

He sounds like a character from a Jason Statham movie, and his car looks like it should be in one but, boy, Lee Fisher is a helluva proud father to his striking Mercedes Benz. This interview had to be conducted using a loud speaker as Lee was concerned about the perishing effect of breath on paintwork.

Your job title

Customer Account Specialist for Takeda.

Job responsibilities

Managing key accounts including hospitals, CCGs and GP practices.

Your car is a...

Mercedes Benz C220 Sport CDI [Ed – I love all these arbitrary letters and numbers, what the hell does C220 mean? Actually, forget I asked].

Owned for

Six months.

Car’s nickname

Flash, because of the number plate!

How reliable

Very, makes life easy.

Miles per week

600.

Place most driven to

Worcestershire [Ed – Hmmm... this is where the Jason Statham metaphor starts to lose its potency].

Favourite gear change

Automatic transmission, but I like the acceleration from second to fourth.

Favourite destination

Home.

Car’s best feature

Alloy wheels.

Car’s most annoying habit

Eco Engine stop/start for fuel economy [Ed – Spoken like a true petrol head!].

Drive time tracks

Anything on Radio 1.

In glove compartment

In-car charger and sat nav.

Word most used in car

‘Stop arguing!’ Aimed at the kids, of course.

Snack most consumed in car

Chocolate.

What’s on your back seat

Car seats for the kids.

Most embarrassing car-related incident

Breaking down on a major junction and having to push my car out of the way, so traffic could keep moving.

Favourite car memory

Getting in my own car, after passing my test, knowing I didn’t have to ask my parents to take me somewhere ever again. Independence, ahoy!

Dream car

Aston Martin DB9 (reminds me of James Bond).

What car did your folks drive, back in the day?

A sky blue Mark 1 Ford Escort Estate [Ed– Why is it, of all the cars Lee has mentioned, I’m most impressed by that one?].

This month, two dark films with a pharma connection: one a foul-mouthed noir comedy with puppets, the other a moving urban fable of drug addiction and broken dreams.

Meet the Fables (1989)

Long before he started making turgid 18-hour adaptations of children’s fantasy novels, New Zealand director Peter Jackson created this spiky neo-noir parody of The Muppet Show. Possibly the only puppet feature to carry an 18 certificate, Meet the Feebles follows its crew of animal performers, managers, drug dealers and camp (believe me) followers through a twilight world of small-town entertainment.

While preparing for a ‘vaudeville hour’ in a grim venue, the Feebles struggle with classic live entertainment issues. The hippo star, trying desperately to hold onto her unfaithful walrus boyfriend, binges on chocolate cake and wrecks a rehearsal. Her co-star, a sexually voracious bunny, is trying to keep his dressing-room antics private but is spied on by a journalist fly. The rat entrepreneur is making porn films as a sideline, but they risk becoming so specialised that no known species will find them arousing. The mole knife-thrower, tormented by memories of Vietnam, is desperate for some drugs to keep his paw steady.

Throw in an anteater with an underwear fetish, a fox whose tastes are not strictly hedgerow-sexual, a RADA-trained hedgehog and some horrible jazz and blues songs, and the stage is set for mayhem on a scale you honestly will not believe. Jackson’s richly composed images show him to be a born film-maker. Soon the fly journo is buzzing with a rabbit STD scandal, a drug deal has turned into a turf war, and the hippo diva has found a Siamese cat wrapped around her boyfriend. There’s going to be trouble.

Pharma content? Well, there’s a poignant moment where the mole knife-thrower, shaking from withdrawal, begs the hedgehog actor: “You got any smack, horse, liquid sky... aspirin, paracetamol, Vick’s VapoRub? You don’t happen to be an asthmatic by any chance?” Eventually he begs enough money to buy enough powder to keep him going until...but that’d be telling.

Pharma rating **

 Requiem for a Dream (2000)

T his stark adaptation of Hubert Selby Jr’s 1978 novel was co-scripted by director Darren Aronovsky and the ageing Selby, who updated its narrative without losing its emotional intensity. It’s a story about the power of addiction to feed dreams while taking away the means to achieve them. The title refers to the way that dreams – whether of romance, family love or wealth – die when their connection to reality is severed.

The story focuses on four people whose lives are blighted by drugs. Harry Goldfarb, a Jewish boy from Brooklyn, and his best friend Tyrone Love see heroin as the road both to personal bliss and to a successful business – the “pound of pure” that will see them set up for life as drug dealers. Harry draws his girlfriend, Marian Silver, into his world of narcotic dreams.

Meanwhile, Harry’s widowed mother Sara – from whom he steals to feed his habit – is addicted to TV game shows. When she receives a letter inviting her to be a guest on her favourite show, she decides to lose weight in order to fit into the red dress her husband loved. So she goes to a doctor, who prescribes a cocktail of ‘diet pills’ (amphetamines) and sleeping pills that soon have her thin, hyper and grinding her teeth. When an anxious Harry asks her if her doctor gives her pills, she says: “Of course he gives me pills, he’s a doctor.”

During a long winter in New York, the heroin supply gets thinner and so do the addicts. Marian sells her body to pay for a fix – while the speed-tormented Sara breaks down completely, ends up in hospital and is subjected to ECT. Harry and Tyrone try to drive to Florida – where, they imagine, heroin is plentiful and cheap – but their worst fears overtake them.

The names Silver and Goldfarb are signs that in the city, money always has the last word. Requiem for a Dream is a nerve-racking film only rendered palatable by its talented actors and energetic cross-cutting visual style.

Ultimately the film belongs to two women: Ellen Burstyn (Sara) and Jennifer Connelly (Marian) remind you how much human beauty, love and warmth the city can waste.

Pharma rating ****

We scour our extensive collection of back issues to see what was happening in the pharma industry and the world five years and ten years ago.

May 2008

May 2008 was the month when, as the recession gathered pace, Boris Johnson defeated Ken Livingstone in the London mayoral election. In the local elections, Labour’s overall share of the vote fell behind that of the Liberal Democrats. Portsmouth defeated Cardi City to win the FA Cup.

The cinema featured the heroic adventures of Indiana Jones and the sexual adventures of four New York cougars. New albums by Donna Summer, Elvis Costello, Eliza Carthy and blues legend T Bone Burnett marked a great month for music, while the Brit Awards winners included Arctic Monkeys and Kylie Minogue.

The May Pf focused on the challenges of targeting a changing healthcare market, with articles on account management skills, the growing importance of non-clinical opinion leaders, and the role of the independent sector in NHS care. Professional development articles covered emergency tactics for difficult presenting situations and the need for evidence to back up your CV. A company profile discussed Teva UK’s success in the Pf Awards 2008 in the context of its broader goal of becoming “the nation’s medicine cabinet”. In all, the May issue captured the UK pharma industry at a time of transition towards new commercial and professional models.

The news pages featured a landmark Appeal Court ruling that NICE could not withhold its economic model for drug assessment from manufacturers. The context was its appraisal of Aricept, Eisai’s drug for Alzheimer’s disease, and the ruling was welcomed by the Alzheimer’s Society.

May’s drug news included the first new oral anticoagulant in 50 years and a new treatment for chronic hepatitis B. Decades after the thalidomide tragedy, the drug was approved for use under strict conditions (to avoid pregnancy) as a treatment for multiple myeloma. Finally, Opposition leader David Cameron condemned the Department of Health for imposing primary care reforms “in the face of opposition from doctors”.

May 2003

In May 2003, US President George W. Bush declared “Mission accomplished” in Iraq while postponing plans for the country to return to self-government. Clare Short resigned from the UK cabinet, accusing PM Tony Blair of lying over Iraq. US entertainment legend Bob Hope celebrated his hundredth birthday.

In the cinema, Keanu Reaves made his second bid to save humanity from shoddy computer graphics, while an animated clownfish updated a family epic from Greek legend. Ms Dynamite shone at the Brit Awards, and Radiohead released the album of the decade in Hail to the Thief.

The May Pf had a strong professional emphasis, with articles focusing on the role of first line sales manager, the use of web-based learning to develop sales skills, and how to make the most of air miles and other expense benefits. An NHS article examined the rise of practice managers, and Omar Ali’s continuing diary of a hospital pharmacist detailed the first few hours of a hair-raising day at work. A company profile of biotech giant Serono celebrated its first centenary and discussed its plans for cutting-edge drug development. A profile of recruitment consultancy IHS described its “money back guarantee” to clients: a significant rebate on any candidate not taken onto permanent headcount at the end of the contract period.

The news section included evidence that NSAIDs such as aspirin and ibuprofen could reduce the risk of breast cancer, and clinical trial results supporting the use of a new anti-epilepsy drug. The BMA rejected a Norwich Union report claiming that most GPs wanted to charge patients for missed appointments.

Bristol-Myers Squibb won two Pf Awards: Experienced Representative of the Year and Regional Sales Team of the Year. A survey found that more than half of employees (and more women than men) considered flexible working hours an important priority when applying for a new job.

Strict ABPI regulations governing promotional meetings often catch out unwitting organisers. Finding a suitable venue for your next get-together is now as crucial as the quality of the midmorning biscuits. But help is at hand to avoid breaching increasingly detailed regulatory codes.

 Healthcare events in the UK are big business. Across the pharmaceutical, medical device, aesthetics and associations industries – plus the NHS and patient groups – there are approximately 100,000 events staged each year. This equates to a market worth a cool £378m annually.

 However, staging a meeting isn’t as simple as plugging in a projector, opening a pack of rich tea biscuits and sending a couple of invites via Outlook. As regulatory codes are tightened, and breach examples help guide the pharmaceutical industry in delivering code compliant meetings, the ever-present challenge of finding an appropriate setting for specific audiences aligned to scientific programmes remains.

 Preferred venue programmes and internal processes should guide those at head office or in territories in selecting appropriate locations for meetings.

 However, interpretation and impression still play a part – and this is difficult to quantify.

 Whether you are booking a restaurant for a dinner meeting or a venue for a larger event, making the right decision is crucial. Your guests, certainly if they are healthcare professionals, are looking for correct decisions to be made; and have been quick to bring to task any organisation they perceive using a venue or location as an inducement to encourage them to attend an event. A recent code breach over the water in Ireland is a perfect example of how even medical societies have to think about code compliance – even if their events are only sponsored in a minor way by pharmaceutical companies. You can never be too careful.

As the transparency drive by regulators continues and the rules become more complex pharma and meeting venues across the UK that stage healthcare events have had to get smarter. Accreditation – by organisations such as Compliant Venues – is now in place for venues which have met set metrics and undergone comprehensive training to understand pharma’s new remit for staging events.

 Future regulations, such as imposing limits set to the cost of food functions applied to events for healthcare professionals, has made finding and working in partnership with a suitable venue more imperative than ever.

 More information on Compliant Venues can be found online at: compliantvenues.co.uk.

 Top tips for organisers and hotel venues

 • Present clearly the location as a meetings and events venue

• Be open about any facilities that can mask the events purpose of a venue, such as golf or spa facilities

• Is the venue one which is perceived as lavish?

• Have you taken time to understand what lavish, extravagant or deluxe means to the pharma sector?

• What does your location say about your venue? Are you the primary focus or are their distractions to divert attention from the scientific programme?

• Ensure that all operational teams have a practical knowledge to stand out in the crowd

• Do you know the meeting and audience types that are considered most appropriate for particular venues?

 Compliant Venues Director Mark Handforth is a recognised expert in meetings and events, with over 20 years’ strategic experience. He is currently working on a Directory of Healthcare Enabled Venues, which goes live soon.

 Weetwood Hall

 Weetwood Hall is a dedicated conference centre with 36 meeting rooms ideally located on the outskirts of Leeds. It is the meeting gem in Leeds, only 4 miles from the city centre with easy access from Leeds/Bradford International Airport and the M1, M62, M621 and A1 road network. It is also one of the few hotels in Leeds with extensive free onsite parking.

 Wrapped in a 4star product this flexible and dedicated conference centre offers extensive meeting/conference and seminar facilities along with a range of breakout areas enabling privacy and confidentiality whilst hosting multiple events.

 In the last five years, Weetwood Hall has invested over two million pounds on developing and refurbishing the 106, 4-star en-suite bedrooms into a fresh and contemporary style, providing a practical interior and a spacious work environment. Guests can also take advantage of the complimentary hi-speed Wi-Fi internet connection throughout the venue.

 Providing various dining options, the seasonal menus reflect their passion for regionally sourced food and are carefully designed to cater for the increasingly popular breakfast, “lunch & learn” and dinner meetings.

 Weetwood Hall is looking forward to working closely with Compliant Venues to demonstrate to clients their investment and understanding of the principles and regulatory codes set out for the healthcare sector, whilst adapting their product accordingly to meet expectations.

 In light of this, the recent assessment by Compliant Venues accredited Weetwood Hall with the highest Green Status.

 “Weetwood Hall is proud to have achieved this accreditation standard and look forward to working in close partnership with Compliant Venues to ensure that those companies who operate within the healthcare sector can be assured that Weetwood Hall adheres to the appropriate and conducive standards expected by the industry,” said Peter Chubb, Development Director.

 This accreditation follows in the footsteps of the Meetings Industry Association AIM Gold reaccreditation in 2012, as well as Investors in People Gold reaccreditation in 2013.

 For further details please contact Weetwood Hall’s Healthcare Champion, Marie Astle on marie.astle@weetwood.co.uk or call 0113 388 5798.

 Yarnfield Park

 Yarnfield Park helps people and organisations from a diverse range of sectors to achieve their conference, training and development goals. Since its re-launch nearly 3 years ago it has developed a successful track record in delivering both residential and day events for small meetings up to large events for up to 450 delegates.

 It helps organisations grow, inspire and empowers people by providing them with the location, facilities and environment to achieve their goals. In the heart of the Midlands, it is just 10 minutes o­ the M6, 90 minutes from London by train and less than an hour by car from both Manchester and Birmingham.

 The conference and training centre has recently reached another milestone in its ongoing journey of development. It now offers one of the fastest dedicated internet solutions available at any conference or training venue in the UK, with a dedicated 300Mbps superfast connection across all of its meeting, accommodation and public spaces. This free service allows delegates to easily access online learning resources, stream videos, live link and share information easily and effectively. The system lends itself perfectly to the increasingly popular hybrid events. Ian Parkinson, the site director, said “We know that organisers are crying out for better Wi-Fi and internet at venues and we believe that we now meet these requirements.”

 In addition, the venue now sleeps over 400 delegates on site after it twinned just over 60 of its 338 bedrooms. It has also increased the number of meeting spaces in the conference centre to 25, following the addition of 3 new spaces, including the 100 delegate capacity Maple and Willow suites. Yarnfield Park plans a year of investment with upgraded technical facilities and a new website, due for a mid-summer launch. For more information call 01785 762605.

 The Convention Centre Dublin

 Since opening in 2010, The Convention Centre Dublin (The CCD) has hosted over 700 events and won 22 industry awards, including recognition as one of the top four convention centres in the world at the AIPC (International Association of Congress Centres) Apex Awards in 2012. It has also scooped the M&IT gold awards for ‘Access Excellence’ 2012 and ‘Best Overseas Conference Centre’ 2012 and 2013. It truly is Dublin’s shining light.

 Dublin is highly accessible for delegates travelling from the UK, US, Europe and beyond, with Dublin Airport – serving 55 airlines over 169 routes – located a mere 15 to 20 minute journey from the CCD. There are over 18,500 hotel rooms within a 10km radius of the CCD, which is within walking distance of many of Dublin’s cultural, architectural, academic and social attractions.

 Designed by Pritzker award winning architect Kevin Roche, the CCD has already become an iconic symbol of modern Ireland. The venue offers 22 flexible meeting rooms and six spacious foyers, including a 2,000 seat auditorium and banqueting facilities for 3,000 guests. As a new venue, The CCD is finished to the highest specifications and incorporates the latest cutting-edge technology throughout, including complimentary Wi-Fi access. In 2012 the CCD complemented its exceptional service by offering a special ‘CCD Client Host’ service, giving qualifying clients a uniformed PA/chauffeur for the duration of their event.

 In 2012 the CCD also hosted a range of major international events, including the International Bar Association’s Annual Conference (5,200 delegates), Euroscience Open Forum 2012 (4,500 delegates) and the 16th International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders (5,000 delegates). The CCD has also secured ISO 9001 and 14001 accreditation and the British Security Stand BS7499, and consistently achieves a customer satisfaction rate of 96%. For clients who are environmentally focused, The CCD is one of the ‘greenest’ venues in the world, achieving a remarkable waste recycling rate of 95% last year.

 This year, the venue plays host to a wide range of events, including the World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (3,000 delegates), the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research Conference (3,300 delegates) and the 15^th International Congress of the European Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry – ESCAP 2013 (2,000 delegates). To find out more about the CCD visit www.theccd.ie or email sales@theccd.ie.

The great and the good of planet pharma converged on the Lancaster Hotel in London for, quite simply, the greatest award ceremony in the galaxy (that’s unbiased journalism, right there, folks!) John Pinching reflects on a delightful evening.

During 13 glorious years the Pf Awards has been an increasingly-important fixture on the pharma industry’s hectic calendar. It’s a chance to reflect on the high points of the last 12 months, reward the supreme efforts of pharma’s finest and meet up with vaguely recognisable faces on the dance floor!   This year’s shindig was perhaps the most exciting so far with new categories, inspirational performances and, in Ed Byrne, a compelling host.

The evening got underway with the dulcet Black Country tones of Melanie Hamer who – in her capacity as Events Director for Pf Awards and a Director of Events 4 Healthcare – has overseen every ceremony to date. She was keen to point out how the Pf Awards have evolved in accordance with the demands of the industry, and why they continue to set a benchmark for the most passionate people in the business.

It was my very first Pf Awards and I was most honoured when asked to present the award for best company (the most notoriously unpronounceable organisation in the history of pharma, naturally). The night before I had dreamt that my pilgrimage to the stage was greeted with a chorus of abuse, but in reality the crowd were consummately professional and, as a result, the words ‘Boehringer Ingelheim’ tripped off the tongue effortlessly!

As the names of other winners resonated around the venue, it was very clear from the spectacularly wild celebrations that these endorsements are treasured acknowledgments of a job well done.

Now enjoy our photo album which commits those unforgettable moments to the hallowed pages of the very magazine that gave the awards their name.

Adding a Pf Award to the mantelpiece will be used to inspire several companies as they aim to reach even greater heights. Here’s how one of the winners will be celebrating.

Lundbeck: Working in partnership

The Pf 2013 Joint Working award was won by Jo Livingston, Lundbeck’s Parkinson’s disease specialist.

Jo Livingston worked with partners in primary and secondary care across the Sunderland NHS to develop an integrated care pathway for local people suffering from Parkinson’s disease. An account of the project’s goals and outcomes appeared in an HSP Partnership in Practice supplement in 2012.

A medium-sized pharmaceutical company, Lundbeck specialises in treatments for mental health and neurological disorders. The company has devised a strategy for 2013 that builds on the stability the organisation has achieved and focuses on its three main pillars of strength: delivering excellent results, giving value to customers and being a great place to work. The company’s strategic priorities are complemented by its four operating principles: to be ambitious and take action; to own the future; to be better for less; and to create results together.

In recent years, Lundbeck UK has focused strongly on working in partnership with the NHS to improve the care of people with Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Jo Livingston’s project is a good example. According to Andrew Jackson, Sales & Marketing Manager for Azilect, there are two reasons for this strategic focus: “The changing NHS and the relationship that the pharmaceutical industry has with it means we need to work jointly, rather than simply promoting drugs. Services for neurological disorders are very varied across the UK, so it’s important that we partner with the NHS to make them better for mutual benefit.”

What made Jo Livingston’s project stand out among the finalists? “It was a true partnership project,” Jackson explains. “She got buy-in from various stakeholders within the NHS and she worked in partnership with them, which is rare. We’ve evolved over time to a model where we’re jointly sharing projects, as opposed to the traditional model where pharma gives money and the NHS goes and does something.”

While joint working is a team achievement, that doesn’t mean good leadership isn’t crucial. Jackson comments: “Clinicians and stakeholders in the NHS are very, very busy, and for the project to actually be seen through and implemented correctly, Jo needed to be the one who was spearheading that and who was driving the meetings, their content and their output, to get towards the end result.”

As well as winning in the Joint Working category, Lundbeck had five other finalists in the Pf Awards 2013. Jackson puts that success in context: “Eighteen months ago Lundbeck restructured to align to the changing needs of the NHS. We developed a team of regional account directors to tailor Lundbeck’s offering to the needs of the local health economy.” That dynamic response to NHS reform has boosted their reputation both with customers and within the industry.