The factory is still rich in tradition, retaining its Victorian origins and while it was a far cry from Willy Wonka, it wasn’t without its ‘magic’. Brightly coloured lollipops speeding down conveyer belts, men in overalls trundling huge vats of goo between old-fashioned machinery, eye-watering smells and the taste of warm candy hot off the belt, it was an assault on all senses that didn’t disappoint.

Delving into the world of a sweet factory was fascinating, as was following the production journey, from raw materials right through to the final packaged product and now we are fully prepared to answer any question on the production of the new Covonia lozenge!

Holland & Barrett has been working with Elizabeth since May, after it became the first high street chain to stock her snack bars – which have gone down fantastically well with consumers, the media and the Pegasus office!

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

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”.

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

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. 

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.

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

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.