The Changing NHS

by Jeanne Hardacre - Guest Blogger

The paperback version of ‘The Fight of My Life’ has just been published. It is Barbara Clark’s personal story of how she won the right for all women in the UK to receive Herceptin to treat certain types of breast cancer.

I was invited to work with Barbara Clark last week in Westminster, where dozens of women with personal experience of breast cancer met with their MPs to press for further improvements to breast cancer services and treatment. These women all form part of an advocacy and campaigning network for a national breast cancer charity called Breakthrough.

I ran workshops aimed at helping the charity’s campaigners better understand commissioning and the health economics behind why and how some treatments are funded – and others are not. Of course, NICE was in the room. So were clinical representatives, academics and health economists. Senior politicians attended. Two large pharmaceutical companies joined in the discussions.

But there were no NHS managers to be seen. Two dozen PCT Directors of Commissioning had been approached, but no replies were received.

For those of us inside the NHS, there are, of course, lots of reasons why such events are not deemed a management priority. But from the outside, for many patients and health campaigners, NHS managers often seem a faceless set of bureaucrats working behind closed doors, who are difficult to engage in dialogue or discussion.

Health lobby and campaigning groups are raising their game. People who take on the NHS, NICE and the Courts – and win – know about influencing and will only get better at it. They have shown that their work can lead to policy change, with a direct impact on PCT decision-making.

There is lots to learn from the lobbyists. They are experts in their area of interest and are eager to engage with NHS organisations. But their frustration with the NHS ‘closed door’ can lead to more negative press for NHS managers. For PCT commissioners, it could well be an hour well spent to sit and talk to local health campaigners a couple of times a year. Keeping your ear to the ground can keep you ahead of the game.

And just think, how much more civilised and productive to be influenced over tea, biscuits and conversation than through headlines in The Sun followed by a court ruling.

nhs

herceptin

primary care trusts