Archive for the ‘Medical Research’ Category
Thursday, July 10th, 2008
In the week where Britain’s National Health Service has been celebrating its diamond jubilee, Bhavika Hira, operations manager of B2B International’s medical market research division, reflects on the divergence of public opinion over this national institution.
A few years ago I turned up at my GP’s surgery in time for my 3.30pm appointment, only to be told by the receptionist that she was unable to let me through to the doctor for the time-being since her computer, which showed the names of everyone who had booked an appointment, had just crashed.
On another occasion, when the printer printing out my prescription jammed, my GP told me in frustration that: “all the extra NHS funding that the public is forever hearing about goes into computers, not into more doctors or better patient facilities”. Yet, few people would argue that, in general, computers and advances in technology do not benefit our lives tremendously.
Some colleagues of mine have recently moved from the UK to America to work in the B2B International USA office. The United States offers some of the best healthcare facilities in the world, but not everyone can benefit from them. Without adequate medical insurance in the US, you will struggle to even get seen by a doctor. So, do we in Britain, who all have the right to receive ‘free at the point of delivery’ healthcare, actually just take our National Health Service for granted?
This week the NHS has been celebrating its 60th birthday. Since its conception in 1948, the NHS has continually found itself in the headlines. The media makes dramas out of it and politicians come to blows over it. Yet, fundamentally and crucially, we should not forget that the British public relies on it.
The NHS treats one million patients every 36 hours and employs 1.5 million staff. Once a pioneer its field, the NHS now comes in for criticism on a regular basis – from the cleanliness of hospitals, to the salary of GPs, to the length of hospital waiting lists. Yet we shouldn’t forget that there has been a huge amount to celebrate since 1948: DNA discovery, transplant surgery and test-tube babies to name but a few.
My medical market research team is immersed in the NHS. We speak to doctors and other healthcare specialists all day, every day. By doing this, we get a wide range of views on a whole array of different disease areas and different aspects of our healthcare system. But that’s the fascinating thing about what we do – we are always discovering interesting and relevant information, and most people have a something to say, whether good or bad.
To find out more about our medical market research services, visit www.b2bmedical.co.uk
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Friday, June 13th, 2008
Bhavika Hira, Operations Manager of B2B International’s medical market research division, considers the future of GP surgeries as we know them.
‘What next?’ is what I would say. We all understand how difficult it is to get an appointment with a GP, especially when you need it at a time which is relatively non-disruptive to your working hours, i.e. 9am to 5pm.
However, imagine if we could just walk into Tesco or ASDA to do a local shop, see a GP and get a prescription on a Saturday or even Sunday. With such stores now selling non-food items like TVs, fridges, clothing, etc., are we looking at a one-stop-shop for everything?
I then read a report which mentioned that GP surgeries ‘could be run by Tesco or Virgin’. GP surgeries in the centre of England’s second largest city will be scrapped and replaced by franchised health centres run by private companies such as Tesco or Virgin under proposals published by its primary care trust. The health trust’s corporate franchising strategy has been presented to the board and already approved by its professional executive committee. The trust aims to have the first ’super-surgery’ open within the year.
The plans, described as “the most frightening document I’ve ever read” by a senior GP, include abolishing the 76 existing practices in Birmingham and replacing them with 24 branded primary care units, each predicted to see up to 15,000 patients a year.
So, therefore, the question arises as to whether primary care trusts have forgotten the fundamentals of general practice and appear to be more interested in marketing, image and developing brand loyalty, or whether they are copying the franchised expertise of fast food restaurants and high street stores in the hope of making the NHS more effective and efficient.
Obviously marketing, image and brand loyalty are all things we advocate strongly, but when you’re dealing with such sensitive issues as taxpayers’ money and the public’s health and wellbeing, it should come as no surprise that the public will have an opinion as to what should be a priority.
I went to the supermarket with a friend the other day to try to pick up a prescription. The lady at the pharmacy counter was completely out of her depth and it took her at least 30 minutes of shuffling around to deal with us satisfactorily. This made me think about whether we want more specialists who really know their jobs or supermarkets who do a bit of everything?
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Thursday, January 24th, 2008
In the coming weeks B2B International will be extending our expertise in medical research yet further, with the opening of our dedicated online medical panel - B2B medical.
Already within the past year, over 4,000 doctors and medical specialists have been interviewed by our specialist medical interviewers. The aim of these interviews has been to find out more about prescribing trends, workloads and messages from marketing campaigns in a number of disease areas ranging from cancer to diabetes.
Now our medical research is expanding yet further with the launch of our online medical research panel B2B Medical.
Bhavika Hira, manager of B2B’s medical unit says that “because our telephone unit has gathered such comprehensive data, we now understand the needs of doctors and are confident that online research is the way forward, enabling busy professionals to fill in questionnaires at their own convenience.?
Our online medical panel can be accessed by medical professionals simply by registering via the dedicated website. All that’s required is a valid GMC number – ensuring the veracity and credibility of panellists. Once registered, doctors and specialists receive questionnaires regularly, each focussing on a specific disease area or speciality.
For more information on our online medical panel, please visit https://www.b2bmedical.co.uk/. Further details of our other medical research services, including pharmaceutical research is available on B2B International’s main website.
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Thursday, August 30th, 2007
The following is taken from an article by Iain Stevens (Chairman of BHBIA) - it is quite a few months old now, but it is still very relevant:
Increase market knowledge
- Measure market size and share
- Discover gaps in the market
- Segment customers in ‘types’
Understand your customers
- Define behaviours and attitudes
- Understand and influence needs
- Gauge the price sensitivity of target customers
Forecast and model future performance
- Assess whether initiatives generate ROI
- Measure the impact of a line extension on market share
- Appreciate the benefit of a price change
Test and generate ideas
- Evaluate product/advertising concepts
- Assess optimal brand attributes
- Understand ‘emotional’ influences on prescribing
Assess sales performance
- Assess the success with which representatives deliver messages
- Evaluate the impact of the recent PR/ad campaigns
- Measure and monitor brand ’share of voice’
Respond to market activity
- Track key performance indicators
- Monitor the impact of external factors (eg, parallel trade, NHS etc)
- Keep tabs on competitor initiatives
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