Agility and Flexibility Award *NEW FOR 2021*

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Finalist

MSD Oncology Respond to the COVID Pandemic

by MSD

Summary of work

As the pandemic dramatically altered the outlook for cancer services, MSD quickly began a dialogue with Macmillan, Cancer Research UK and other cancer community organisations to understand the worst areas hit. Lung cancer became a high priority, with the UK Lung Cancer Coalition (UKLCC) explicitly calling for a lung specific symptom campaign. As a UKLCC council member, MSD worked behind the scenes to meet that call.
Supporting public and private events, seminars and workshops, MSD brought together different arms of the cancer community to understand the impact on cancer, the strategies to recover and the innovations to do things differently.
In dialogue with cancer alliances in the worst affected areas we gained a better understanding of the demographic who were not engaging the system. Few were disadvantaged more than people with lung cancer, due to socioeconomic factors compounded by the conflation of symptoms with COVID-19 – the pandemic was on course to set back a decade’s worth of progress.
Working with the community we raised the alarm for lung cancer in the media and in Parliament, while we crafted a creative campaign to reengage the right people in the system giving them a chance at an earlier diagnosis and better outcome.

To date, the program has successfully generated and leveraged data through newly established channels and partnerships with engaged stakeholders. The program has already successfully influenced clinical practice and policy at global, country and clinic levels via novel insights and targeted, patient-focused solutions. Adherence is gaining the attention it has long needed, and real-world outcomes will improve as a result.

Judges’ comments

This was a strong entry spread over nine months, that showed good evidence of understanding the situation and why change was necessary. We were impressed by the speed of the required pivot and the multi-faceted approach to the challenge. They used discovery approaches to determine where to have most impact. The impact of the programme was fantastic – far-reaching against the objectives.