Pegasus post

Fighting over frontline services?

Posted by Stuart in Health news No comments»

The Times reports today on the growing role of the UK pharmacist – but with anticipated cuts to pharmacy services reported widely across this weeks pharmacy press, will pharmacists continue to receive the resources they need to develop their role at the forefront of patient care?

Many reasons are cited for developing the role of the pharmacist with the provision of enhanced services.  Pharmacists have the capacity to see more people in a day than GPs, they are well positioned to review treatments and where GPs are likely to see the ill, pharmacists often see the well, as such, they are well equipped to prevent illness as well as to treat it.

Reports suggest that Minor Ailment Schemes (MAS) will be one of the biggest victims of PCT cost cutting with many already being renegotiated or decommissioned.  The schemes, developed to enhance accessibility to service provision and ease workload of general practice and A&E departments, allow patients to present to community pharmacists for advice and medicines for an agreed range of minor conditions, such as hayfever, coughs, colds and head lice.

Ironically, one of the major rationales for the implementation of MAS’s is to reduce long-term health spending.  Whilst there are conflicting reports on their take-up and success, it remains to be seen whether these cuts are short-sighted cost saving strategies at the expense of long-term financial gain or a reflection of the success of schemes to date.

by Sallyanne

New award added to the Pegasus trophy shelf

Posted by LauraJ in Clients, Pegasus, Team No comments»

Another fantastic achievement last week as Pegasus picked up the Communiqué Award for Best Consumer Health Programme for the successive year.

The educational campaign ‘Once a Week, Take a Peek’, highlights the importance of weekly head lice checks, providing simple advice aimed at tackling parental confusion about how to treat the problem.

The campaign managed to see off tough competition and clearly impressed the judges, who commented, “Such a fine example of medical and consumer tactics working well together. They used a clever, creative platform, uncovering a huge knowledge gap amongst parents. Very thorough and beautifully executed”.

New NHS whitepaper sets out the course for change

Posted by LauraJ in Health news No comments»

Everyone with an interest in the NHS (which should surely be the whole country in one way or another) has been on tenderhooks to see what the new coalition government has planned for its future. But few will have anticipated such radical moves as those presented by Andrew Lansley yesterday – billed as the biggest shake-up of the NHS for 60 years (and it’s only 62!).

Source: nuffieldtrust.org.uk

Speaking as an ex-NHS employee who experienced the first internal market era during the previous Conservative administration, the focus on reinforcing principles of competition between providers and expediting the decentralisation of hospital services through the foundation trust scheme is not a surprise. But the plans outlined in ‘Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS’ are significantly more far-reaching and complex than this. Indeed, many commentators have already criticised the plans as being too radical at a time, they say, when smaller-scale efficiency savings and stabilisation are what’s needed to help keep the country afloat. The abolition of the current commissioning structures driven by Primary Care Trusts and overseen by Strategic Health Authorities, with power handed instead to groups of GPs as a move to bring decision making even closer to the front-line, seems to have the support of organisations like the BMA, but huge investment will be required – not least on the part of GPs, in terms of both skill and mindset. And let’s not forget about the wealth of other healthcare professionals – pharmacists, midwives, hospital consultants, nurses – who have an equally valuable contribution to make in facilitating access to the best information, services and advice.

Whatever your views on the economic and political arguments, though, you can’t argue with the sentiment behind the plans – aiming to put the patient at the centre. This has long been a universal ambition for the NHS, as a more participatory society has evolved, mainly thanks to the advent of the worldwide web and the strength of the patient advocacy movement in the UK. However efforts to truly engage all patients are a tall order – the most vulnerable patients who are arguably in most need but find participation difficult are at risk of being missed out or left behind, and good quality information is often lacking even for those who are searching for it. These are issues that must be addressed if the pursuit for a more patient-led NHS is to be realised. And it must of course be done without increasing levels of bureaucracy and diverting resources from the front-line.

Whilst some may have hoped for a more manageable action plan, the one fact is that the need for communications expertise – for those delivering services in the NHS, and those providing a service to the NHS – has never been so strong. Whether it is helping patients to navigate the system and access the right information at the right time, supporting the shifting web of influencers and decision makers to talk to each other, or ensuring access to the latest innovations in medicine and health technology, healthcare communicators will have their work cut out. Bring it on!

By Jo Spadaccino, Head of Pharma & Life Sciences

Welcome Jo!

Posted by LauraJ in Health news, Pegasus, Team No comments»

We are delighted to welcome Jo Spadaccino on board in the newly created role as director of our pharma and life sciences division!

Jo, a former Board Director of Cohn & Wolfe will be responsible for leading our PR and healthcare professional education campaigns for existing pharma and consumer health clients, as well as driving new business in UK and international markets.

Jo’s appointment is an exciting step forward for us as she will strengthen our senior management team and her experience advising leading pharmaceutical companies will bolster our offering in an increasingly patient-focused marketplace.

Jo is looking forward to swapping commuting into London for a short journey along the coast – giving her more time to spend in her home town Brighton, spending the summer evenings on the beach and driving around in her much loved Nissan Figaro. 

Nutty health

Posted by LauraJ in Health news No comments»

The UK has one of the highest average cholesterol concentrations in the world, with as many as two thirds of UK adults – up to 32 million people – living with blood cholesterol above levels that the Government recommends are safe.

So little wonder that any product, ingredient or scientific breakthrough claiming to remedy the situation is big news, and potentially big business for the health industry.

And remedy cholesterol levels is exactly what a new research paper has suggested pistachio nuts have the capacity to do. 

Published by the Journal of Nutrition and covered by the Daily Telegraph among a number of national and online titles, the research found that consuming as little as a handful of pistachio nuts a day could destroy bad cholesterol, ward of heart disease, and have implications for other serious conditions such as cancer.

Research participants ate three differing diets for a month long period – a standard cholesterol-lowering diet containing no nuts, and two other similar food regimes with 1.5 and 3 ounces of pistachios respectively.

It is believed that the nuts, which contain antioxidants – a word seemingly far from both supportive and disparaging headlines alike – including lutein, beta-carotene and gamma-tocopherol, increased antioxidant levels and lowered cholesterol concentrations in the blood upon consumption by the test groups.

Professor of nutrition at the Pennsylvania State University, Professor Penny Kris-Etherton said of the study: “Our previous study showed the benefits of pistachios in lowering lipids and lipoproteins, which are a risk factor for heart disease.

“Our results suggest that a heart-healthy diet including pistachios contributes to a decrease in serum-oxidised-LDL levels, in part through cholesterol lowering, and also due to an added benefit of the antioxidants.”

For the natural health industry, this research presents opportunities from a food retail and product development perspective.  And in these challenging times, such news is always welcome.

Another Pegasus success!

Posted by LauraJ in Pegasus No comments»

We’ve said it before and as we have won another award for it we’ll say it again, Pegasus is a great place to work!

This time it was PR Week who awarded us Bronze in the best places to work.  We were praised for our ‘buddy system’ for new starters, our extensive training schedule which is tailored to each employees’ needs and benefits such as maternity leave, and performance based bonuses. PR Week also picked on the more social side of the agency such as our social schedule which includes yearly trips to Goodwood.

See what Senior Account Director, Chris Webb had to say about it here

And the good news is we’re hiring!  If you want to find our more, contact our careers department at careers@pegasuspr.co.uk

Pegasus speaks up

Posted by LauraJ in Pegasus, Team No comments»

Beauty team members, Helen Yeardsley and Sam Humphrey gave a seminar at the prestigious Natural and Organic Products Europe Show last weekend. Titled “Understanding the Natural Beauty Consumer”, their 45 minute session looked at what consumers understand about natural beauty, the role of social and traditional media and how best to use these channels to connect with your audience. Judging by the full house and excellent response afterwards, they both hope to be back next year.

Pegasus joins GlobalCom

Posted by LauraJ in Pegasus No comments»

You may have already seen it in today’s PR Week, but we are delighted to formally announce that Pegasus has been appointed as the exclusive UK healthcare agency to GlobalCom PR-Network. The move means we are able to tap into a network of 40 agencies, spanning 69 countries and enhances our ability to act as the lead agency across pan-European and global campaigns.

The network already executes campaigns for a number of large blue chip pharma clients including GSK, Bayer, Roche, Merck and Pfizer.

If you would like to find out more about our expanding global offer, please just pick up the phone or drop us a line.

Joy of Sound

Posted by LauraJ in Celebrity, Clients No comments»

As part of Hear the World – an initiative for Phonak – we have been helping launch the ‘Joy of Sound’ photography competition. The competition invites people to submit a photograph that captures the joy that sound can bring. For some it is laughter or music and others it may be simply peace and quiet, but for everyone sound is an integral part of how we experience the world around us. The winning photo will be selected by a panel of judges and there are lots of prizes to be won, including a Nikon digital camera, iPod Touches and Audéo Perfect Fit earphones.

Hear the World is a global campaign, highlighting the importance of hearing and the consequences of hearing loss.  In the past we have helped raise awareness for this campaign by promoting photographer and musician, Bryan Adams photography exhibition, which is packed with iconic images of well known celebrities, including Annie Lennox, Moby, Mischa Barton and Amy Winehouse.

The competition has only been running a few weeks and already there are some great photographs.  Check out the entries, vote or even submit a photo yourself via the Hear the Word website: http://www.hear-the-world.com/

150 women shape up in Trafalgar Square

Posted by Stuart in Clients, Social media No comments»

The team embarked on a fitball frenzy this week, when we created the UK’s largest fitball workout for Simplyhealth. The event – held in Trafalgar Square – saw 150 women come together to launch The Vitality Show and raise £15,000 for Breast Cancer Campaign. All the women were recruited in just eight days through a mix of Facebook, Twitter and traditional media relations. We had a great turnout from TV, radio and print media and even managed to secure a plug on the ITV London News.