Brave culture
Pharma and the NHS. It’s the greatest and longest running soap opera, in which we are all playing varying roles.
As in The Queen Vic, the Rovers Return and the Wolf Pack, there are lots of diferent narratives, plots and postures fghting for supremacy.
Yep, the healthcare ecosystem is complicated. On the one hand, it is developing the most futuristic and scientifically astonishing medicines in the history of mankind. On the other, patients – who are increasingly savvy about the possibilities of futuristic treatment – are visiting NHS buildings with peeling paint, crudely handwritten signs, antiquated computer systems and rooms with no windows.
The final observation is perhaps the starkest metaphor, because progress in therapies can only happen if the panorama is clear – if healthcare professionals and patients can see what’s really going on. And that means modernisation.
Increasingly, we witness in the pages of PharmaTimes that the zeitgeist is moving away from ‘public health’ – shifting from the paradigm of state-run health systems.
And, while Wes Streeting must rebuild the NHS from the ground upwards, we should also embrace ‘choice’.
Digital dynamism, responsible self-care, AI and big tech disruption are not a collective coup waiting to pounce on an ailing institution, but a response to wider failures.
All this tumult, however, can be a force for good. Patients with an ability to navigate the maze of healthcare, and who have an investment in it, are much more likely to participate in clinical trials and the shaping of the new NHS.
With a belief that change is good, this is a soap opera that could have an uplifting storyline.
Enjoy the magazine!
