Our Partnerships

In 2018, the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) updated their treatment standards for metastatic soft tissue sarcoma (STS). The new regimen involved the addition of a new chemotherapy drug to the existing standard single agent therapy, requiring patients to spend more time in hospital receiving treatment. Lilly UK collaborated with the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre on a joint project which identified a need to improve the efficiency and patient experience of the chemotherapy service and minimise the time patients would spend attending the clinic.

Working together, we analysed patient flow and sought to understand more about patients’ treatment journeys. We then used this information to identify systemic issues that were causing disruption to treatment plans and develop a new process for patients. A new nurse-led service saw patients receive care from a single specialist nurse and resulted in patients’ time in hospital decreasing by an average of 53.6%, saving patients an average of 4 hours 34 minutes per visit. The partnership not only improved patients’ experience and care but also resulted in efficiencies for the centre as empowering nurses to lead the system reduced the demand on consultant time. The process mapping and development of data collection plans involved in this project helped develop a core partnership model that can be adapted for use across any clinical pathway.

Learn more about the project here.

As face-to-face appointments were restricted during the COVID-19 pandemic, tele-dermatology solutions became an invaluable tool to ensure dermatology patients continued to receive optimum care.

The MySkinSelfie mobile phone app for skin self-monitoring has been developed through collaboration between Lilly and the Newcastle Upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust. This patient-led approach required users to take high-quality images of skin using the app, which could then be viewed by clinicians using the MySkinSelfie web portal. The app was designed and built by Newcastle Hospital NHS Trust in collaboration with the OpenLab for human computer interaction, based at Newcastle University School of Computing Science.

In a recent study of urgent and non-urgent skin cancer referrals in Bristol and Newcastle, it was found that patient uptake of the MySkinSelfie app nearly doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic (51% compared to 26%). The app provided an effective alternative that reduced face-to-face visits during the COVID-19 pandemic, aiding remote consultations and diagnosis in both centres. The app reduced face-to-face appointments by 58% for basal cell carcinoma referrals compared to before the pandemic, and by 63% for two-week-wait skin cancer referrals during the pandemic. Phone applications and digital technology such as MySkinSelfie provide easily implementable cost-saving measures that keep patients out of hospital and free up clinical capacity.

Learn more in this retrospective review.

A team of healthcare professionals from across Wales worked with academic staff at Swansea University to develop an educational app for patients with diabetes. The project was supported by Lilly UK under a joint working agreement. DiabetesClinic@Home is a free to download app, designed to help diabetes patients on insulin therapy to self-examine the skin at the injection site prior to their annual treatment reviews.

The idea for the app came from healthcare professionals who were concerned that this essential check was being neglected during the switch to remote consultations because of COVID-19. Following successful testing within Wales, the app was rolled out across the UK and beyond.

More details can be found at https://clinicathome.swan.ac.uk/

See publications from the Diabetes Times and Diabetes Wales.

Working together with NHS Devon, we co-created PARM (ProActive Diabetes Register Management), which is a simple to use clinical data tool that uses practice-level data to show how well patients are managing their condition. This tool has the potential to transform diabetes care due to its ability to identify any potential issues which require critical/urgent attention, as well as its ability to predict who may need input from a diabetes specialist in the future.

The tool works by identifying the most appropriate cohort of patients in their catchment area to be reviewed by clinicians. This enables patients to better manage their own health, be discharged from secondary care faster and be given the right level of support from their practice. Equally, it provides multi-disciplinary teams with valuable educational tools to manage more complex patients in primary care settings. The excel-based tool is free to use and has been downloaded by several hundred practices across the UK.

PARM has been written about by Business & Industry and The Telegraph.

City Hospitals Sunderland approached Lilly UK for support while implementing a new meditech IT system into clinical practice. The upgrades to their technology and the provision of a specialist nurse to monitor the system enabled patients with diabetes to be reviewed and/or triaged by a specialist, and then have outpatient follow-up by the clinical team.

Implementation of this new system resulted in a reduction in hospital stays, costs, and bed days, as well as increased patient satisfaction. Furthermore, greater understanding of patient flow through the system meant that blockages to patient care could be identified and eradicated more quickly, and the project improved the efficiency and capacity of the care system.

Learn more about the project from PharmaTimes.

The diabetes team at Gartnavel Hospital, under a joint working Agreement with Lilly, investigated whether the treatment of inpatient hypoglycaemic episodes could be improved, and whether there were modifiable risk factors for recurrent hypoglycaemia that could be addressed by specialists.

Working together, we concluded that proactive specialist advice triggered by remote review could reduce the burden of hypoglycaemia, but that therapy changes might be better made by a specialist team directly rather than just being advised.

Learn more about the study here.

• CVRM (Cardio Vascular Renal Metabolic) Optimisation MDT (Multi-disciplinary Team) for Patient Benefit

• Diabetes Self Check Project with Swansea Bay

• New Models of Complex Adjuvant Care in Patients with early Breast Cancer

• RET (Rearranged During Transfection) Gene Validation

• ‘Best to PEST’* Multi-disciplinary & Multi-specialty Psoriatic Arthritis Project * Psoriasis Epidemiological Screening Tool. Reviewed May 2020