Collaboration help for myeloma patients
Janssen, a worldwide group of pharmaceutical companies, strives to develop innovative and ground-breaking medicines to improve people’s quality of life. Here Lee-Ann Farrell, Janssen UK’s government affairs manager for Wales and Northern Ireland, explains
IT’S no secret that the National Health Service is strained like never before. Both the Government and the NHS have publicly acknowledged that the status quo cannot be maintained.
By 2030, it is estimated that there will be around 15 million people in the UK over the age of 65 and we should not forget that Wales has the highest average age in the UK.
The percentage of the population aged 65 and over in the 2011 census was the highest ever seen at over 18% – around 563,000 people.
This is projected to increase to more than a quarter of the population (26%) within 20 years, with this growing and ageing population continuing to add to the financial burden on our healthcare system.
Meeting rising demand in the current public spending environment is a tough challenge that can only be met by everyone involved in the nation’s health working together – including government, patient groups, media, industry and the public.
By working together, we can help to future-proof the service for the next 70 years and beyond.
Johnson & Johnson believes that industry needs to deliver more than purely product-based solutions.
There must be a joint commitment across these groups to improve the future of healthcare, partnering to help address clinical, operational and costbased issues, together.
As the pharmaceutical company of Johnson & Johnson, we at Janssen have the global scale and local insights to change the trajectory of health for humanity by improving access to treatments, creating healthier communities and taking a holistic view of health and well-being that combines both the mental and physical aspects.
We have entered a digital age, with new technologies that have the capability to enhance outcomes, education and monitoring while improving knowledge of the patient through modernised registration and medical history solutions – much like the solution being implemented through the partnership with NHS Wales.
Earlier this year, Janssen UK was proud to announce a joint working initiative with NHS Wales, Myeloma UK and Welsh Government.
The ambition of this collaboration is to ensure that all myeloma patients are registered in an NHS Wales Haematological Malignancy Data Solution at diagnosis.
This innovative and personalised system aims to accurately record detailed information regarding the patient, reporting outcomes and preferences, diagnosis, treatment plan and response to treatment.
By collaborating with NHS Wales and Welsh Government, we hope to build a data solution which supports the health service to drive more informed and transparent treatment decisions, while providing myeloma patients with a clear assessment of what to expect from their treatment based on real-world evidence.
We aspire for this to be the standard for how data is collected routinely for patients in Wales; starting in the myeloma space and expanding to include all haematological malignancies within the next five years.
The project is currently in the first year of its implementation phase and once the data solution is routinely collecting, collating and analysing patient information, clinicians caring for myeloma patients will be able to have a more informed conversation with them, around their individual condition and how they are likely to respond to the treatment or intervention recommended for them.
This will enable clinicians within the NHS to develop a better understanding of which interventions work in which patients, helping to create a potential pathway for future treatment plans.
But this is just the beginning. The ambition is to roll this initiative out to other parts of the UK and then apply it to other diseases as we move towards a world where we can intercept before a disease takes hold, with a focus on prevention and early intervention, to improve overall patient outcomes.