The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 273 No 7309 p104
24 July 2004

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Medicines management can be improved by NHS and industry working in partnership

The pharmaceutical industry fails to understand the medicines management skills of pharmacists, according to a report published last week into how to improve partnership working between the industry and the NHS.

Informal feedback from the NHS also suggests that hierarchies and divisions in the pharmaceutical industry can be a barrier to joint working. At the same time the pharmaceutical industry thinks that the NHS is difficult to work with, the report points out.

“A framework for joint working between the pharmaceutical industry and the NHS” has been produced by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical industry and NHS Alliance, which represents NHS professionals.

There are good examples of partnership working between the industry and the NHS at local level but there is no central record of what is happening, it says. “Examples of partnership projects can take a very long time to bring to fruition and often seem dependent on personal relationships rather than organisational commitment,” the report adds. “The lesson seems to be to start small and allow projects to develop rather than trying to impose top-down solutions.”

Successful partnership working is dependent on six principles — trust, mutual benefit, added value, reliability, consistency and integrity — the report concludes.

The framework, which is available on the ABPI website, pulls together examples of partnership initiatives between the industry and the NHS in an attempt to help spread best practice. A simple checklist of issues to consider when establishing a joint project is also included.

Publication of the framework coincides with the results of an ABPI survey which reveals 50 per cent of primary care organisations are involved in partnership working with the pharmaceutical industry.

Medicines management was highlighted as the most useful area of joint working. Implementing National Institute for Clinical Excellence guidelines and national service frameworks were issues that could be tackled through partnership.