Collaborative Working Project between NHS Kent, Medway and Sussex (KMS) Secure Data Environment (SDE) and Pfizer Limited

Establishing a prototype innovation sandbox where tailored medicines information can be tested in a trusted environment, using de-identified healthcare record data.

Background

Given patients in England are dispensed more than one billion prescribed medicines per year,¹ and a large proportion of patients do not take their medication as intended,² there is potential to improve patient experience and outcomes by providing access to trusted, up-to-date, tailored information in a digital format.

Patient information leaflets (PILs) have been a legal requirement in the UK since 1999 for all medicines³ and they provide accessible, written, authoritative information to patients about the medicines they are taking. It is hoped that by integrating the electronic PIL with healthcare records, we can produce content that suits individual health profiles and comorbidities, demographics, offers care giver support, thus empowering patients and carers with the right information, at the right time, to become more engaged in their own care.

 

Project Objectives

• Establish a prototype SDE innovation sandbox where tailored medicines information can be tested in a trusted environment, using de-identified data from healthcare records.

• Define a UK specific implementation of the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standard for electronic medicines product information (ePI).

• Create a ‘living lab’ to assess views of stakeholders (patients, professionals, the public, academics, innovators, and policy leaders) on perceived benefits, barriers, feasibility, uptake, and sustainability of personalised labelling information.

• Investigate the potential to create a trusted research environment within the SDE innovation sandbox.

Benefits

Benefits for Patients

• Improved patient outcomes (experience, quality and safety of care).

• Provide patients with more relevant information for the medication they have been prescribed.

• Reduced, focused medicines information tailored for patients will potentially increase their ability to understand the key information and may, therefore, result in better patient outcomes.

• Improved patient/carer trust in programmes harnessing data for research.

Benefits for the NHS

• Potential decrease in repeat healthcare professional (HCP) medicines-related visits due to patients having been equipped with more relevant and focused digital information about their medicines.

• Potential reduction in hospital admissions due to adverse events/medicines being taken incorrectly.

• More specific medicines information to support HCPs during patient interactions.

Benefits for Pfizer

• Improve accessibility, relevance and usefulness of medicinal product information for patients.

• Facilitate the transition of medicinal product information to the FHIR format.

Potential Outcomes

This work will inform the pathway to a new capability for the NHS, and a blueprint for deployment of personalised ePI at scale across England within five years.

Digitisation could also provide a range of other benefits, including richer information on side effects, interactions, or allergies, and surface this content in more visually engaging and accessible ways.

NHS health and social care records host a wealth of information that can help to personalise and improve patient experience but has not been leveraged in the product information setting yet.


 

Resource Allocation

Pfizer colleagues will provide support to the project through all stages of delivery, from planning to evaluation to closure.

KMS SDE colleagues will provide support to the project, including IT activities related to the SDE, through all stages of delivery, from planning to evaluation to closure.