BIVDA is a member of the Infection Management Coalition and we are pleased to share that our work with the rest of the membership of the IMC has been ‘highly commended’ by the Communiqué Awards 2023 in the award category.
“Excellence in Communications – Payers/Policymakers”.
The recognition for the important work of the IMC, pushing for a more holistic approach to infection management is greatly received.
The judge’s feedback for the coalition is below;
“Hanover and the Infection Management Coalition really had a good handle on the situation. They were very clear about the phasing and the blueprint was extremely robust. It had remarkable feedback from top figures and coverage was impressive. The entry was ambitious and pragmatic and achieved a huge amount for the budget. Great traction and the judges liked that they’ve made it relevant and delivered a lot for a modest budget. To get that level of endorsement in a crisis, they were clearly doing something right.”
The meeting that was held this week was to reflect on the IMC’s key milestones and the progress to date and importantly to agree on the strategic imperatives for the next steps.
Discussion on the scope and focus of the work undertaken included whether to broaden the reach globally as the previous focus was UK and England specifically. There were many considerations to consider including other governmental priorities and local pressures but engagement and lobbying fits well internationally and country level implementation needs tangible actions and examples of best practice.
With the political landscape intensifying in 2024, practical solutions are needed. To broaden the reach, the end goal needs to be clearly defined and the asks set out clearly.
What does infection management look like, and what does the environment need to look like to improve it, including both soft and hard solutions from the IMC.
Common issues to the health tech sector were raised, such as the failure of systems to integrate infection management into pathways and difficulty in disseminating bet practice. Lack of data and variation across ICB’s was also identified as a challenge.
Opportunities in Near Patient diagnostics in clinical spaces and point of care provision outside of clinical spaces, at home or in pharmacies were discussed and the need to ensure that the first treatments need to be accurate, pharmacy doesn’t have diagnostics or treatment options – but what else is provided.
Anti-microbial stewardship, and the associated subscription and procurement models for antibiotics featured in the conversations and the potential to expand into broader areas such as anti-fungals and anti-virals.
Pharmacogenomics, bringing pharma and diagnostics together could be a priority but currently proving value on the 1-4 ROI is difficult.
The coalition addressed the role of bringing different programmes together to share policy, best practice and in order to amplify messaging across the sector and internationally.
Whilst AMR is a huge priority, it is still important to ensure that it doesn’t affect the wider remit of infection management overall.
Issues that affect the ability to adopt stewardship were also discussed, such as junior HCP’s being unaware, Silo’s, regional variation and data availability and data sets.
Finally, financial savings, versus societal benefits, quality of life and health disparity were covered asking the question, cost saving or cost neutral and what the policy asks should be.
If any member would like to find out more about the Infection Management Coalition or the work it undertakes please contact Helen
