Working Together: The Guide and the Manual - Revised Edition 2008

The Guide  

The Manual 

HEALTH CONSUMER ORGANISATIONS AND THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

Health consumer organisations and pharmaceutical companies have collaborated for many years to address the needs of health consumers.

What is a Health Consumer Organisation?

Health consumer organisations, or patient groups, are not-for-profit organisations that represent the interests and views of consumers of health care. They may range from small volunteer groups to large organisations, and are independent of the government, pharmaceutical industry and professional health service providers.

Health consumer organisations and pharmaceutical companies often work together to improve the health and quality of life of consumers. The sharing of information relating to the needs of patients, the results of clinical trials and the quality use of medicines is important to ensure patients have access to the best treatment options.

To address the growing number and complexity of relationships between health consumer organisations and pharmaceutical companies, Medicines Australia and the Consumers Health Forum of Australia, developed a guide to assist in the building and maintenance of successful partnerships.

Many pharmaceutical companies provide funding support to patient groups to improve the lives of consumers. Funding is often used to prepare education resources such as disease fact sheets or to raise the awareness of health issues and conditions.

In the words of Sebastian Rosenberg – Deputy CEO, MHCA

“Several years ago, the Mental Health Council of Australia established a Pharmaceutical Collaboration involving several pharmaceutical companies. There are currently five members in this Collaboration – AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, and Wyeth – supporting a range of activities including:

• World Mental Health Day/National Mental Health Week
• Quality Use of Medicines projects
• Other leading edge reports and research into mental health, for example:
  • Not For Service – Experiences of Injustice and Despair in the Mental Health Care in Australia
  • Let’s Get to Work – A National Mental Health Employment Strategy for Australia
  • Smart Services

The Collaboration operates to an agreed annual MOU, drawing on the Working Together Guidelines produced by Medicines Australia and the Consumers Health Forum of Australia.

The Collaboration has proven extremely useful to the MHCA, allowing it to carry out a range of vital research and communication tasks for which it was otherwise not funded. This has allowed the MHCA to build a strong reputation for the quality and breadth of its advocacy for the mental health sector and helped position the Council as a trusted source of independent advice to governments.

The MHCA is grateful for the support of its collaboration partners.”

Relationships between health consumer organisations should be built on honesty, integrity, trust and mutual respect.

The guiding principles for working together are:

1. Respect for independence
2. Openness and transparency
3. Achieving and maintaining public trust
4. Accountability
5. Fairness