Pharmaceutical Industry Competitiveness Task Force

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Pharmaceutical Industry Competitiveness Task Force

NSFs are a part of the quality framework, which includes NICE, the Healthcare Commission and clinical governance. Those clinical areas chosen for NSFs go to the top of the NHS priorities list and resources will be made available both nationally and locally (for the latter through the local delivery plans).

For relevant companies, NSFs present superb opportunities to adopt new approaches centred on the benefits of the appropriate medicines in helping healthcare decision-makers to deliver any appropriate targets within each NSF. Following the previous renegotiation of the Pharmaceutical Price and Regulation Scheme (PPRS) — a voluntary agreement between government and the industry on profits — agreement was made to set up a high level-working group to continue to look at the market place for pharmaceuticals. This was the Pharmaceutical Industry Competitiveness Task Force (PICTF). One of the most significant recommendations of their first report was that industry and the NHS should work much more closely together in the development of the NSFs.

The DH supported the conclusions of the PICTF initiative, suggesting that involvement should take place at the development stage (including the external reference groups), the emerging findings stage and implementation and delivery stages:

‘The Secretary of State is keen to involve the pharmaceutical industry in the development of national service frameworks… Industry might wish to offer facilitation and to support regional workshops… and we would welcome this on a “without prejudice” basis… The industry has both the expertise (and in some areas, resource capacity) to bring to bear in the professional development of GPs, primary health and social care teams, clinicians and others. Collaborating with the industry in delivery of a NSF would be of significant advantage to both DoH and the industry where a pharmaceutical intervention has been identified in the NSF…’

See Ministerial industry strategy group pharmaceutical industry competitiveness task force: 'one year on' report

Much of the ‘co-operation’ so far has been at a national level through the ABPI rather than at an individual company level. But as many chief executives will be unaware of PICTF, these messages should be picked up and rolled out by NHS influencers. It would appear that this co-operation has been particularly successful in Wales.