Core Services and Solutions
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Strategic Consultancy
We support your brand strategy at every stage of the product life cycle:
- Health system preparation
- Organisational and capability design
- Patient/service pathway mapping
- Affordability argumentation
- Digital health
- Policy shaping and patient advocacy
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Payer Insights and Intelligence
Market analysis through a payer lens and understanding the implications for your business:
- Customer insights
- Advisory boards, focus groups, indepth interviews, surveys, freedom of information requests
- NHS system news
- Company focused insight reports, health policy briefings, field force bulletins, customer panel insights
- Stakeholder analysis
- Stakeholder mapping and profiling, customer personas

Value Communications
Activate your brand’s value proposition:
- Patient pathway mapping and characterisation
- Clinical and patient outcomes: data analytics
- Refinement of treatment paradigm based on real world evidence
- HCP communication assets
- Patient and carer educational assets

Payer Engagement and Capability Development
Mobilise your workforce to effectively navigate the healthcare system:
- NHS preceptorship
- Leveraging and combining skills and assets from both parties
- Value articulation training
- Working collaboratively to move to best value not just best price
- Whole system view
- Adopting a population health management approach to stakeholder engagement and collaborative working
Visions4Health Case Studies:
Unearthing European Market Access Opportunities
Challenge
An American start-up company, who had developed an innovative blood drawing device, approached Visions4Health to gain insight into the EU market access landscape with the aim of finding new market opportunities and to raise further investment to fund expansion. This new device could be used at home and had the potential to relieve pressure on phlebotomy services.
Solution
Visions4Health’s first step was to undertake a full assessment of the devices market across Europe. The UK and Germany emerged as the markets with the most potential to be ‘quick adopters’ of this innovative technology. Of these two markets, the client decided to explore opportunities in the UK only.
With the focus now on the UK, Visions4Health worked with the Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) to:
- Determine the size of the opportunity in the UK
- Act as a testbed to demonstrate that the device works (for CE mark purposes)
- Understand the level of potential future investment
Using desk-based research and utilsing their network of expert advisors, Visions4Health then brokered a series of introductory meetings with academic, private and NHS establishments. The purpose of these meetings was to provide real-world evidence and crystalise the unmet need of the device. To support these meetings, Visions4Health developed a value proposition for the device and created an ‘investor presentation’ following the running of an internal (client) market access strategy workshop.
Result
- Within the first three months, Visions4Health had brokered 20 meetings with academic, private and NHS establishments
- The client struck a partnership deal with one of the UK’s leading academic institutions to use the device in ongoing healthcare research studies
COVID-19: Real-world, Real-time Insight Gathering
Challenge
An existing client approached us to help them understand the current and lasting impact that the COVID-19 pandemic was having on the NHS, and in turn what the specific implications were for the client’s commercial priorities and ways of working with the NHS.
Solution
Building on the widespread adoption of virtual communication platforms, Visions4Health proposed an online panel of NHS payers and decision-makers which would convene weekly and be joined by senior members of the client’s market access team. To avoid any impact on the NHS response to the pandemic, the panel ran one evening per week.
Activities:
- The agenda was set around six strategic themes that were important to the client’s commercial objectives
- Aligned to the six themes, Visions4Health used environmental scanning to identify topics for discussion that were relevant to front-line NHS staff
- The discussion was facilitated by a Visions4Health expert to generate qualitative feedback
- Each panel was followed by a short survey which provided a quantitative ‘temperature check’ on participants opinions across the duration of the programme
Result
- The panel ran over an initial period of six months with good attendance and support from NHS panel members
- The insights gathered were turned into thought pieces, blogs and other content housed on the client’s intranet. This enabled the client’s workforce to be kept up to date in real time and helped inform both day-to-day and future commercial decision making
- This project was viewed internally as an extremely high value and even as we begin to emerge from the pandemic, it has been recommissioned for another 12 months
Supporting New Innovations to Market
Challenge
Our client was preparing to launch a new, innovative disease modifying drug (DMD) for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and was in the process of submitting to NICE for a technology assessment. This was set within a clinical environment which had changed dramatically over recent years, resulting in the stretching of an already under-resourced MS specialist service, coupled with a perverse incentivisation structure which rewarded hospital activity. Our client’s challenge was therefore multi-faceted:
- To define the payer stakeholders and influencers at all levels of the NHS in England
- To inform national price discussions to agree commissioning and a commercial arrangement for the new product
- To understand the pressures on commissioners and hospital providers of MS services and the dynamics between local and national commissioners
- To map the funding flows across the patient pathway to identify the value that the new product delivers to the patient and the NHS
- To understand how the value messages could sit alongside the clinical messages for this novel new treatment
- To equip the market access team with the tools to a engage payer audience
Solution
With clearly defined roles and responsibilities, Visions4Health worked in partnership with the client to develop and deliver the strategic approach. The following tactics were implemented:
- Stakeholder mapping to identify key customers
- In-depth interviews with a range of payer customers involved in decision-making
- Advisory boards to help shape the market access plan for the entry of the new product, generate the value messages, define the tools required to support prescribing for the new product and understand the experiences of different patient access schemes to shape the commercial agreement
- Support the client to deliver national one-to-one engagement of the medicines optimisation clinical reference group and NHSE commercial team
- Advisory teleconferences with small groups of payers to deep-dive role-specific challenges and generate solutions
- Development of the value proposition messages and materials
Result
- In less than two years, in a highly competitive market, the product was delivering an approximate 15% market share
- Internally, the value campaign was recognised as a ‘best-in-class’ example of payer communication by the global team and used as a benchmark for other markets
Adoption of an Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) ‘Early Stage’ Innovation
Challenge
Key functions of the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) are to identify new, potentially highly effective products which need support through the regulatory and approvals process, and to provide tailored support for selected innovations which have been given NICE approval.
Visions4Health was asked to support the AAC to accelerate the uptake of high-impact innovation which was:
- On track to receive a NICE recommendation
- To be reimbursed through a novel funding mechanism
- Required a primary care delivery model to maximise the benefit to the population in England, at a time when primary care was seeing unprecedented demand for its services
- To be led locally by the Academic Health Science Networks (AHSN) who were responsible for system engagement and the development of a local plan to implement the innovation within the local lipid management pathway
Solution
AHSN teams are made up of a range of professionals, some from a clinical background, some with cardiovascular expertise and others with project management skills. Visions4Health worked in partnership with the AAC to develop a toolkit for the AHSNs to support their local engagement with system leaders by providing:
- The case for change – why should lipid management be a priority for improvement?
- The opportunity to improve the outcomes of patients with CVD, particularly those in deprived areas with limited access to the NHS
- A clinical profile of the innovation
- A synopsis of funding options to support service transformation
Feedback on the content of the toolkit was obtained by direct interaction with AHSN programme leaders. When completed, the toolkit was rolled-out to the AHSN teams via a series of virtual webinars.
Result
- Visions4Health developed the toolkit as an interactive pdf. An integral part of the toolkit is a nine-step process for AHSNs to follow to support the implementation of the innovation into the local lipid management pathway
- Visions4Health co-facilitated a series of webinars with the AHSN cardiovascular project teams. All webinars were well-attended and provided an opportunity for each AHSN to share their ideas and concerns and ask any questions regarding the programme
- Feedback from the AHSNs was overwhelmingly positive:
- “Can we have a toolkit like this for all our programmes”
- “Thank you, this will be really helpful”
- Visions4Health were commissioned to develop a medicines optimisation pack to support decision-making by formulary committees. The pack was cascaded by NHS England to medicines optimisation leads and chief pharmacists.
Networks and Partners
Networks4Health

Networks4Health is a closed, secure, professional network managed by Visions4Health. It is comprised of both clinical and non-clinical healthcare professionals from a range of roles and organisations across the NHS:
ICS Leads – CSUs – STPs – Chief Information Officers – Digital and Innovation Leads – Hospital Managers – Medical Directors – Public Health Hospital Pharmacists – Heads of Nursing – Procurement – Pharmacists – GPs – Commissioners
Visions4Health calls on the Networks4Health community to support the advice we provide to the life sciences industry. Their involvement in projects includes:
- Market/environment understanding and shaping
- Competitor differentiation
- Value experience and value proposition development
- Learning and development leads
If you are an NHS professional and would be interested in joining Networks4Health, please contact us. All Visions4Health staff involved in market research are BHBIA registered.
HTA and Data Partners
Health-economics and data analytics are becoming an increasingly relevant and important component of the solutions we offer our clients. Visions4Health has both HTA and data partners within our network:

- Systematic literature reviews
- Health economic evaluations
- Budget impact modelling
- HTA submissions

- Population health and outcomes data analysis
- Insight into local care pathways, drawing data from multiple datasets and creating data definitions
- Segmentation modelling
European Agency Partners
In-depth market understanding is a critical to client success. We invest in maintaining our own in-market expertise and relationships, and partner with European agencies who have the same approach:

- Market access and pricing strategies
- Public affairs
- Corporate development
- Solutions and services

- Market access and pricing strategy
- Market access strategies and implementation for pharmaceuticals and devices
- Swiss and Austrian market access strategies and implementation for pharmaceuticals and devices

- Pricing and market access strategy
- Regulatory procedures
- Scientific and pharmacoeconomic analysis
- Strategic communications
- Patient advocacy

- Pricing and market access strategy
- Scientific and pharmacoeconomic analysis
- Strategic communications
What is Visions4DigitalHealth?
Visions4DigitalHealth Case Studies:
Utilising digital technology to improve timely diagnosis and management of long-term conditions
Challenge
Visions4Health worked with a pharmaceutical company, an NHS organisation and a digital diagnostics company to implement a risk stratification tool that would highlight patients who were at risk from common long-term conditions, such as heart failure, COPD and diabetes. The NHS organisation provided GP and community health services for a population of approximately 250,000 people in a relatively deprived, rural part of the country. The long-term aim was to develop a model of care that led to proactive and effective management of long-term conditions in the community.
Solution
Patients identified through risk stratification were able to access a range of remote support services, including consultations and monitoring. GPs could utilise the risk stratification tool to ensure that care could be delivered in a timely fashion and according to clinical need.
Result
The service enabled highly vulnerable patients to feel better supported at home, and rapid access to local care providers reduced the likelihood that the person would need to contact emergency services if they were struggling to manage their condition. The project resulted in a saved eight emergency admissions per week, on average, saving around £151,000 per week.
Helping patients to self-care at home
Visions4Health worked with a medical device manufacturer who provided dialysis machines for use by people receiving their treatment at home. A common complication of dialysis is infection at the site of blood exchange. Once a catheter site is infected, the patient will require an operation to develop a new fistula to support dialysis. This means the patient cannot receive their dialysis out of hospital for several weeks, and often, they will require a catheter to be inserted into their neck, which creates a further and significant risk of serious infection. Visions4Health worked with the company to develop a digital diagnostic tool that could take a high-grade photo of the dialysis site.
The device also recorded temperature and heart rate as well as enabling nurses and patients to communicate via a secure weblink. The information collected was used remotely to assess the risk of infection. This ensured that antibiotics could be prescribed at the first sign of infection, reducing the likelihood that the catheter would need to be removed and enabling patients to continue with their treatment at home. Nurses could also use the camera to ensure the patients were using the correct hand washing technique and carrying out dialysis in a way that minimised the risk of future infections.
Supporting patients to receive timely oncology interventions
Challenge
Visions4Health worked with a pharmaceutical company who provide treatments to patients undergoing chemotherapy in an oncology unit. It was clear that patients were not always able to undertake their treatment according to the prescribed 28-day treatment cycle. Treatments could not be scheduled unless a patient’s blood test results showed sufficient recovery following the previous treatment cycle. The blood tests were typically carried out in GP practices, but the nurses in the hospital-based oncology unit had no access to the results.
Typically, one or more nurses would spend the entire day calling practices to get test results. The GP receptionists often did not have access to the information required, so communication was delayed. This meant treatments had to be postponed. The long-term impact was reduced capacity of the treatment centre, leading many patients to suffer delays to their treatment or cancellations.
Solution
Visions4Health identified that many of the GP practices were using the same IT system to record blood test results. Visions4Health worked with the hospital and the GP federation to build a gateway between the blood test results reporting system, the hospital oncology patient record system and the patient’s mobile device via an app. Once a test had been reported, all stakeholders could access the results without the need for multiple phone conversations.
Result
Patients were far more likely to receive their treatment over a 28-day cycle, ultimately improving outcomes and ensuring timely access for new patients to treatment.
Device product development
A global medical device company were looking to differentiate their product, a diagnostics device used in diabetes management, that had no data sharing capabilities. They faced strong competition from providers of similar products. However, none of the major players had a comprehensive digital offering that enabled patients to access results or analyse long-term changes in their health.
Visions4Health worked with the company to develop a data and digital services offering to complement the hardware capabilities of the product and support their differentiation strategy. This included the use of data from the device to provide an analytics platform that the patient could review and share with their healthcare practitioner to support their ongoing management. The company implemented the proposed changes and designed an analytics platform that enabled access to device data for all the key stakeholders. The adaptations were successful in securing further R&D investment and attracting major multinational customers.

