Anthony Anandan, an experienced life sciences and healthcare consultant, recently supported HEU in bringing together a team of NHS experts to deliver workshops on payment systems, tariffs, and value for an international audience.

Without a doubt, one of the most satisfying things about working with the Health Economics Unit (HEU) is the sheer variety of fascinating and cross-functional projects they deliver. One such example was supporting the development and delivery of two knowledge-sharing workshops for the Polish Health Ministry and the Polish National Health Fund earlier this year.

The brief was to leverage expertise and knowledge from within the NHS to provide help and advice on updating hospital payment systems. The client was conducting virtual study tours around several health systems internationally, to gather best practice and expert input on how to improve their existing payment systems.

Using its vast network of healthcare experts, HEU was able to bring together an impressive group of speakers from within the local commissioning support unit, and hospital payment and finance experts from a wide range of organisations, including the National Casemix Office, Imperial College Healthcare Trust, the King’s Fund and the Nuffield Trust. In doing so, we were able to provide delegates with the knowledge and expertise needed to challenge their assumptions and deepen their understanding of the UK health system, which will now inform their own decisions.

Thanks to HEU’s agility and flexibility, we were able to respond to a modified brief in a short space of time and, crucially, the delegates went away with the knowledge needed to update and improve their hospital payment mechanism programme.

Speaking to us after the workshops, Agnieszka Gaczkowska, Project Manager at the National Health Fund of Poland (NFZ), said the workshops “really helped NFZ to understand a lot of the process”. While Christoph Schwierz from the Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (European Commission) praised the “excellent engagement from NHS colleagues”.

I was impressed by the way our expert speakers worked together, many of whom were taking valuable time out of their extremely busy schedules, to bring this together so quickly and successfully. The presenters enjoyed the sessions too with Paula Monteith, Head of the National Casemix Office, saying:

“It’s always fascinating to work with a cross-functional NHS team and use our individual insights to contribute to a much bigger picture. Being involved in these sessions was an absolute delight. The delegates were incredibly enthusiastic, informed and inquisitive, which ensured that they could interact with all the speakers to get as much from it as they could. It was a privilege to be involved and share our collective knowledge, as well as learn from others. I’d be more than happy to take part in something similar again – thanks to the team at HEU for making it happen”.

The development and delivery of these workshops is a great example of how collaboration and knowledge sharing across the NHS can demonstrate, on an international scale, why it is one of the best healthcare systems in the world in terms of supporting global healthcare innovation and improvement.

Sessions like this have great potential to make a positive impact on global healthcare delivery. The HEU has already received requests from other health systems that are interested in attending similar workshops.

Thanks to its large network of health economics and analytics experts, HEU can organise knowledge sharing sessions on a wide range of subjects. So, if you have a similar healthcare economic or data-related issue, please get in touch – the team would love to discuss how they can help.