What we do

We will continue to achieve this by recruiting and maintaining the ABPI Patient Advisory Council - made up of eight chief executives from across UK patient organisations, providing the ABPI Board Members, Board Committees and the ABPI Senior Leadership Team with patient insight to help inform strategy, policy priorities and work-plans across the ABPI.

The Patient Advisory Council draws upon the individual expertise within its representation and their wider patient communities to support and share diverse thinking from the breadth of communities.

What we do

The pharmaceutical industry and patient organisations have worked together for many years to advocate for policies that benefit patients. Commitments to shared goals have led to policy changes such as:

• faster and fairer access to ground-breaking medicines
• increased prioritisation for chronic disease areas in national strategies and plans

Raising understanding of the needs of patients with rare diseases and increasing patient involvement in clinical research.

Building on these strong foundations, we will continue to involve patient organisations in our policies and campaigns as they are being developed.

We will do so in a way that is appropriate to the topic in question and works for the organisations involved, respecting their capacity and other priorities.

We will also continue to integrate our patient involvement commitment into the ABPI strategy to ensure it is considered and integral in all our strategic priorities.

What we do

Despite shared ambitions to work together for the benefit of patients, we know that setting up, managing and sustaining partnerships between the pharmaceutical industry and patient organisations can be challenging and resource-intensive.

We will continue to provide practical help through working with the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA) running annual workshops for the ABPI Members and patient charities to better understand the ABPI Code of Practice, troubleshoot challenges and share case studies of working together. 

We will continue to run ‘Partnership Surgeries’  at the ABPI Patient Organisation Forum - where problems arising at any stage of the partnership process can be discussed, solutions explored and learning shared.

We will continue to invite feedback and co-create and refresh materials to support understanding of the ABPI Code of Practice and partnership working. 

What we do

• By consulting and involving our well-established Patient Organisation Forum in our annual business plan - shaping activities throughout the year, co-developing work programmes and sharing insight on what matters to patient communities.
• By partnering with the Patient Information Forum to co-develop annual training for ABPI staff and industry members on how to tailor communication so that it resonates with patients and avoids jargon, and we will continue to undertake the PIF TICK audit annually to ensure our processes support us to achieve this. 
• By including patient representatives in designing and participating in our major external events and staff briefings.
• By encouraging ABPI staff to share expertise and learn from patient organisations through their annual volunteering allowance and talent development plans.
• By including patient involvement in our induction programmes and onboarding of new UK industry leadership colleagues.