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Big Pharma Health

Why the healthcare industry should be taking its lead from Martha Lane Fox

By Niaz Rizwani | DigitasLBi

August 4, 2015 | 4 min read

The announcement that Martha Lane Fox has been appointed to help the NHS increase the take up of digital innovations is a big step towards harnessing the power of technology in healthcare.

Martha Lane Fox

This significant appointment, which received little fanfare in our industry press when it was announced last month, comes at a time when about a quarter of the UK population is self-diagnosing online, either because they’re unable to get an appointment with their GP or an appointment is not available quickly enough. The internet is quickly becoming the first port of call for medical advice.

Digital health is a movement that is gaining ground, driven not by the sector itself but by users, who are becoming used to managing every aspect of their life through digital channels.

Digital allows people to manage their own health – monitoring exercise, calorie intake and even quality of sleep. It enables people to feel in control – self-management can contribute to adherence or become part of the drug development process itself. The future is exciting.

So why is Baroness Lane Fox a good choice for this new government role? She is a visionary and champion of digital. She recognises the central role the internet plays in our world and its importance to the UK economy. And she also has personal reasons for understanding the need to improve healthcare through digital, after a serious car accident in 2004 left her with multiple injuries. Her work on improving take-up of digital offers serious lessons for the pharmaceutical industry.

Big Pharma has been notoriously bad at harnessing digital technology and has struggled to recognise the role digital plays in healthcare professionals’ and patients’ lives, where digital expectations are set outside of interactions with pharma companies.

Efficiency drives in pharma are reducing investment in research and development, but this is short-sighted. As our understanding of disease increases, new breakthroughs will not happen through consolidating and exchanging product portfolios. The real efficiency should come from streamlining and improving the customer experience. To quote Christopher Ratcliff of Econsultancy: “We’re moving from a world orientated around persuasion to a world orientated around usability.”

Lane Fox’s previous work with the government provides the blueprint for the pharma industry. When she reviewed the UK government’s online offering she made some clear recommendations. At the heart of her revised approach was the premise that: “Government needs to move to a ‘service orientated culture’ that put the needs of the citizens ahead of the government departments.”

This approach was groundbreaking in its simplicity. Gov.uk was born and the magnificent work of the government digital services (GDS) team began. With a series of simple principles, they made the government’s digital platform work for its users.

The pharmaceutical industry must recognise that it’s essential to have a clear understanding of your end user’s needs. Understand why your customers come to you and then deliver this in the clearest and simplest way possible. Think mobile first, personalised content, integrated social channels and secure data management.

Health providers and the pharmaceutical industry should take their lead from Lane Fox. They need to find a way to stay relevant to healthcare professionals and patients by giving them access to the information, products and services they want, quickly and easily.

Niaz Rizwani is health strategist at DigitasLBi

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