Our Partnerships

In 2018, the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) updated their treatment standards for metastatic soft tissue sarcoma (STS). The new regimen involved the addition of a new chemotherapy drug to the existing standard single agent therapy, requiring patients to spend more time in hospital receiving treatment. Lilly UK collaborated with the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre on a joint project which identified a need to improve the efficiency and patient experience of the chemotherapy service and minimise the time patients would spend attending the clinic.

Working together, we analysed patient flow and sought to understand more about patients’ treatment journeys. We then used this information to identify systemic issues that were causing disruption to treatment plans and develop a new process for patients. A new nurse-led service saw patients receive care from a single specialist nurse and resulted in patients’ time in hospital decreasing by an average of 53.6%, saving patients an average of 4 hours 34 minutes per visit. The partnership not only improved patients’ experience and care but also resulted in efficiencies for the centre as empowering nurses to lead the system reduced the demand on consultant time. The process mapping and development of data collection plans involved in this project helped develop a core partnership model that can be adapted for use across any clinical pathway.

October 2018, Cancer/Oncology, Service Redesign, Workforce

As face-to-face appointments were restricted during the COVID-19 pandemic, tele-dermatology solutions became an invaluable tool to ensure dermatology patients continued to receive optimum care.

The MySkinSelfie mobile phone app for skin self-monitoring has been developed through collaboration between Lilly and the Newcastle Upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust. This patient-led approach required users to take high-quality images of skin using the app, which could then be viewed by clinicians using the MySkinSelfie web portal. The app was designed and built by Newcastle Hospital NHS Trust in collaboration with the OpenLab for human computer interaction, based at Newcastle University School of Computing Science.

In a recent study of urgent and non-urgent skin cancer referrals in Bristol and Newcastle, it was found that patient uptake of the MySkinSelfie app nearly doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic (51% compared to 26%). The app provided an effective alternative that reduced face-to-face visits during the COVID-19 pandemic, aiding remote consultations and diagnosis in both centres. The app reduced face-to-face appointments by 58% for basal cell carcinoma referrals compared to before the pandemic, and by 63% for two-week-wait skin cancer referrals during the pandemic. Phone applications and digital technology such as MySkinSelfie can provide easily implementable cost-saving measures that keep patients out of hospital and free up clinical capacity.

Learn more in this retrospective review

March 2019, Dermatology, Digital, Service Redesign

A team of healthcare professionals from across Wales worked with academic staff at Swansea University to develop an educational app for patients with diabetes. The project was supported by Lilly UK under a joint working agreement. DiabetesClinic@Home is a free to download app, designed to help diabetes patients on insulin therapy to self-examine the skin at the injection site prior to their annual treatment reviews.

The idea for the app came from healthcare professionals who were concerned that this essential check was being neglected during the switch to remote consultations because of COVID-19. Following successful testing within Wales, the app was rolled out across the UK and beyond.

September 2020, Diabetes/Metabolic, Digital

Working together with NHS Devon, we co-created PARM (ProActive Diabetes Register Management), which is a simple to use clinical data tool that uses practice-level data to show how well patients are managing their condition. This tool has the potential to transform diabetes care due to its ability to identify any potential issues which require critical/urgent attention, as well as its ability to predict who may need input from a diabetes specialist in the future.

The tool works by identifying the most appropriate cohort of patients in their catchment area to be reviewed by clinicians. This enables patients to better manage their own health, be discharged from secondary care faster and be given the right level of support from their practice. Equally, it provides multi-disciplinary teams with valuable educational tools to manage more complex patients in primary care settings. The excel-based tool is free to use and has been downloaded by several hundred practices across the UK.

PARM has been written about by Business and Industry and The Telegraph.

April 2018, Diabetes/Metabolic, Digital, Service Redesign

City Hospitals Sunderland approached Lilly UK for support while implementing a new meditech IT system into clinical practice. The upgrades to their technology and the provision of a specialist nurse to monitor the system enabled patients with diabetes to be reviewed and/or triaged by a specialist and then have outpatient follow-up by the clinical team.

Implementation of this new system resulted in a reduction in hospital stays, costs, and bed days, as well as increased patient satisfaction. Furthermore, greater understanding of patient flow through the system meant that blockages to patient care could be identified and eradicated more quickly, and the project improved the efficiency and capacity of the care system.

September 2016, Diabetes/Metabolic, Digital, Service Redesign

The diabetes team at Gartnavel Hospital, under a joint working agreement with Lilly, investigated whether the treatment of in-patient hypoglycaemic episodes could be improved, and whether there were modifiable risk factors for recurrent hypoglycaemia that could be addressed by specialists.

Working together, we concluded that proactive specialist advice triggered by remote review could reduce the burden of hypoglycaemia, but that therapy changes might be better made by a specialist team directly rather than just being advised.

August 2017, Diabetes/Metabolic, Service Redesign

One Health Lewisham is the GP federation covering the whole of Lewisham Borough. In 2017 the federation was granted NHSE Transformation Funding to support community-based diabetes care. A new system for proactive population health management was established to risk-stratify patients and identify those who needed intervention. This revealed a case load that the existing service was unable to address so the federation decided to use the remaining funding to contract an independent Diabetes Nurse Specialist (DSN) to undertake virtual and face-to-face consultations with patients across 4 practices to assess whether this pro-active list management model would improve achievement to treatment targets.

Early indications were that this care model effectively delivered the required outcomes, so Lilly and One Health Lewisham co-designed a Joint Working project to scale up the pilot to cover all GP practices across the borough with specialist care delivered in 2 community hubs.

COVID-19 disrupted all clinical services, however, due to the new systems and the scaled-up service, the federation was able to rapidly identify people with poorly controlled diabetes (HbA1c >65mmol/mol) who were also at high risk of contracting COVID in order to optimise their treatment. All were issued with home blood glucose monitoring devices as the routine testing service had been put on hold. All of this resulted in the federation managing to retain 45% of all patients to their 3 treatment targets while also achieving a 5% reduction in hospital referrals.

April 2019, Diabetes/Metabolic, Service Redesign

A number of questionnaires have been designed to screen for Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA) in patients with psoriasis. One such questionnaire is the Psoriasis Epidemiological Screening Tool (PEST), which aims to reduce the delay in diagnosis of PsA. A review of clinical practice at Cambridge University Hospital Psoriasis Clinic found that the PEST (or other appropriate screening tools) were used in just 6% of the required patients, while only 29% of the remaining patients had a documented history or examination of their joints. Therefore, many patients in the psoriasis clinic who may have PsA (early or established) were potentially being missed. This project provided dedicated clinical and administrative time to carry out screening and analyse results to improve identification of PsA patients.

The project was initiated in June 2018. After a series of setbacks from COVID-19 and clinician reassignment, in 2020 Addenbrookes Hospital signed a new Agreement extending the term of the project by another 24 months. Due to further delays caused by COVID-19, the project could not start up in full until autumn of 2021, and when the project documentation came to expire again in August 2022 a decision was made that Addenbrookes would complete the project without a further Agreement with Lilly.

The study recommenced properly in October 2021 and the study team completed patient recruitment in December 2022. Through participation in this project, patients diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA) may have access to targeted treatment for PsA which they would likely not have received without a PsA diagnosis, potentially leading to an improvement in patient clinical outcomes and increased patient engagement with their condition.

April 2018, Dermatology/Rheumatology, Service Redesign

This pilot project tested the prototype Tempo Smart Button and Tempo Insulin Pen, together known as the Tempo Personalised Diabetes Management System (Tempo), in a clinical setting with people living with diabetes.

The project assessed patient and Healthcare Professional acceptability of the Tempo system, support materials and user support services, and provided feedback to support future development.

Portsmouth Universities NHS Trust was one of 2 UK pilot sites.

October 2022, Diabetes/Metabolic, Digital

This pilot project tested the prototype Tempo Smart Button and Tempo Insulin Pen, together known as the Tempo Personalised Diabetes Management System (Tempo), in a clinical setting with people living with diabetes.

The project assessed patient and Healthcare Professional acceptability of the Tempo system, support materials and user support services, and provided feedback to support future development.

Swansea Bay Health Board was one of 2 UK pilot sites.

November 2022, Diabetes/Metabolic, Digital

In 2021, adjuvant treatments for early breast cancer had recently been licensed in the UK, however they also bring increased demand on clinical resources in breast cancer services. This was identified as a service delivery challenge by The Christie and other oncology centres around the UK.

The Christie and Lilly UK together developed a Joint Working Agreement to design and implement an innovative, centralised service for patients with early breast cancer utilising digital tools and innovative workforce solutions. The new pathway services patients from across the Greater Manchester and Cheshire region and has provided a blueprint for other cancer centres.

November 2021, Cancer/Oncology, Service Redesign, Workforce, Digital

The Joint Working project between Lilly UK and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust won Best Pharmaceutical Partnership with the NHS at the 2024 HSJ Partnership Awards, and also won HSJ Partnership of the Year at the 2024 HSJ Awards.

The UK has among the highest rates of obesity in Western countries. As a complex, chronic condition that increases the risk of 200+ other diseases, obesity creates a significant burden on the NHS, estimated to cost around £9.7bn per annum by 2050, making obesity a top priority in the prevention agenda.

There is an acceptance by both clinicians and service managers within Greater Manchester that the current weight management service model does not allow for equitable access for patients across the locality or demonstrate consistent successful treatment outcomes. However, there was a lack of usable data to prove this assumption and a lack of understanding around the clinical pathway in general.

Through partnership with Health Innovation Manchester, we developed a baseline pathway map of the 4 tier obesity services across Greater Manchester. We calculated current and expected demand on services by BMI category, locality, age, ethnicity and gender. By mapping patient journeys across services, the project has provided a complete picture of weight management services across Greater Manchester validated by local data.

Outcomes showed that in Greater Manchester more than 1 in 4 (27.1%) adults are living with obesity which equates to over 600,000 people. Prevalence is higher than the England average of 25.9%. In Greater Manchester there is variation in obesity prevalence by age, gender and deprivation. Service eligibility criteria and service provision varies across localities within the Integrated Care System.

November 2022, Diabetes/Metabolic

The project aimed to design a bespoke web-based tool for breast cancer patients to capture patient-reported outcomes (PROMs) such as toxicities and quality of life scores. The objective of the tool was to empower breast cancer patients in self-managing their disease, facilitate timely clinical decision-making, and improve clinic efficiency through remote management for stable patients. The project explored governance requirements at NHS Gloucestershire for digital tool adoption and determined necessary design features to meet these requirements. Additionally, the project mapped the clinical pathway to identify optimal integration points for the tool to maximise patient and clinical benefits. With support from Lilly UK, NHS Gloucestershire contracted a third-party vendor to develop this bespoke tool, complete with patient and clinician dashboards.

Project Outcomes: NHS Gloucestershire successfully onboarded the third-party vendor, navigating approvals from procurement, governance, digital information, and clinical boards. The validated toxicity and quality of life questionnaires were designed through a robust methodology, analysing 26 Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy (SACT) clinical protocols from the SWAG Cancer Alliance and mapping toxicities against the PRO-CTCAE question library. It was crucial to use patient-friendly language, ensuring reproducibility and familiarity for physicians from clinical trials.

The platform was developed to be intuitive for patients and user-friendly for clinicians during appointments. It can generate reports for service improvement reviews over time. NHS Gloucestershire’s approach is embedded in a quality improvement framework, ensuring critical clinical endpoints are achieved and benefits are realised for both patients and clinical teams for seamless integration into treatment pathways. Additionally, the project created a guidance document to assist other Trusts in adopting ePROMs into their clinical pathways.

December 2022, Cancer/Oncology

Through Partnership with Health Innovation Manchester, the goal of this project was to identify an alternative, scalable approach to the management of eligible patients living with obesity across an Integrated Care System. This project aimed to identify solutions to improve patient outcomes, supporting optimisation of the obesity pathway through provision of recommendations to local weight management service commissioners.

To learn more about the project see the Reimagining Obesity Care Pathways in Greater Manchester Integrated Care System report.

December 2024, Obesity

Project Overview

This collaborative working project between Lilly UK and the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust aimed to implement and evaluate a centralised, digitally enabled follow-up model for patients with complex early breast cancer. Initially, the project analysed five patient pathways to estimate the reduction in routine follow-up appointments by using electronic patient-reported outcome measures (ePROMs) via the MyFollowUpPlan platform. This stage identified the potential benefits of patient-initiated, personalised stratified follow-up. In Phase Two, the project focused on a specific treatment pathway and conducted a real-world pilot using ePROMs. The goal was to provide practical evidence of the maximum achievable reduction in routine follow-ups if scaled to the entire treatment group.

Aims and Objectives

The main aim was to improve breast cancer service delivery while addressing increasing capacity pressures associated with new systemic anti-cancer therapies. Specific objectives included:

• Implementing the ePROMs pathway to enable remote monitoring of symptoms, toxicity, and wellbeing for patients with complex early breast cancer.

• Supporting patient-stratified follow-up and timely clinical review, prioritising high-risk patients through a fast-access model.

• Reducing routine follow-up appointments and overall clinic time, releasing outpatient capacity in line with NHS Long Term Plan priorities.

• Generating robust outcome data to inform sustainability and potential expansion to other breast cancer subgroups and tumour pathways.

Headline Results

The project’s ambitious aims relied heavily on the digital infrastructure supporting the MyFollowUpPlan pathway. As full digital capacity was not achieved within the project timeframe, the Clatterbridge will continue collecting and reporting outcome measures as the model is expanded to more breast cancer patients.

Service reductions anticipated from ePROMs introduction into one treatment pathway:

• Annual follow-up appointments were reduced from 1,476 to 861, a 42% decrease. Even when accounting for toxicity-related recalls, reductions of 37–38% were maintained.

• Total weekly clinic time dropped from 38 hours to 31 hours, an 18% reduction, encompassing all clinic activities including chemo-suite, pharmacy, appointments, and dispensing.

Pilot Feedback

The Clatterbridge ran a patient education workshop to test materials supporting self-management on the MyFollowUpPlan pathway and gathered feedback on patients’ experiences with the ePROMs pilot. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive:

• The pathway was simple and easy to understand.

• The portal for ePROMs completion was straightforward.

• Patients felt supported despite fewer face-to-face clinic appointments.

• Some received telephone follow-ups triggered by ePROMs responses and felt these calls were unnecessary, giving insight to refine scoring thresholds.

The pilot established a strong clinical and operational basis for the MyFollowUpPlan model. Systems, processes, and patient education materials are now in place for expansion to wider patient groups. Full rollout is expected early in Q2 2026.

Conclusion

The MyFollowUpPlan ePROMs pathway has demonstrated clear potential to improve service efficiency, patient experience, and capacity management for complex early breast cancer care at the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre. Results show significant reductions in clinic appointments and time, with safety maintained through structured remote monitoring. This project provides strong evidence for the sustainability and future expansion of digitally enabled follow-up models across breast cancer pathways.

March 2026, Cancer/Oncology

This collaborative project with Lilly UK, Frimley Integrated Care Board and NHS Frimley Health aimed to reduce health inequalities for underserved, working age people living with diabetes. The project introduced point of care HbA1c (POCT) testing within one stop GP appointments and targeted home visits, enabling clinicians to review results immediately and optimise treatment at the point of contact.

As a result of this more responsive approach, the test cohort saw a 14 percentage point increase in the uptake of the eight diabetes care processes applied, alongside measurable improvements in glycaemic control. Between November 2023 and March 2024, the proportion of patients with HbA1c below 58 mmol/mol increased by 10 percentage points, demonstrating the impact of POCT testing and on the spot clinical decision making within this group.

By supporting a more personalised and accessible model of care, the project improved patient engagement, informed clinical decision making, and generated valuable insights into the use and implementation of real time HbA1c testing. Learning from the project will help inform future approaches to reducing inequalities and improving diabetes outcomes across Frimley and the wider NHS.

This Joint Working project between Lilly UK, Frimley Integrated Care Board and NHS Frimley Health won the Most Impactful Partnership in Population Health award at the HSJ Partnership Awards 2026.

March 2026, Diabetes

Data: Eli Lilly and Company. Data on File REF-79187. Dashboard. 2025

From data to delivery: Why investing in personalised care is critical for system efficiency and health equity | HSJ Partners | Health Service Journal

This collaborative project between Lilly UK and DAFNE (Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating) (hosted by Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust), focused on the digitalisation of the new VICTOR (Varying Insulin Doses for Changes TO Routine) programme, providing structured education for people with type 2 diabetes using insulin.

Building on the established virtual delivery of DAFNE, the project supported the transformation of VICTOR content into an accessible digital format, enabling wider reach across existing DAFNE sites. This flexible approach supports healthcare professionals and people living with diabetes to access high quality education that fits around everyday routines and clinical pressures.

Throughout the collaboration, the development and editorial control of all VICTOR educational content remained with the DAFNE programme, while the collaboration with Lilly supported digital delivery.

The project generated valuable learning on delivering structured diabetes education digitally at scale and may help inform future approaches to widening and strengthening self management support.

March 2026, Diabetes

• Extension to - Reducing Health inequalities for working age people living with Diabetes in NHS Frimley through Point of Care (POC) HbA1c testing. A Core20PLUS55 project. (Reapproved February 2026)

• Breast Cancer Optimal Pathway Analysis with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board

• Metastatic Cancer Continuing Care Collaborative Working Project with The Christie Cancer Centre

• A Joint Working Project with Sentinel Healthcare - South West Weight Management and Risk Stratification Project

• Transforming Obesity management in Integrated Care Systems - Collaborative Working Project with NHS Confederation

• A Joint Working Project with Burmantofts, Harehills and Richmond Hill PCN - Weight Management Risk Stratification Project

• A Joint working Project with West Leeds PCN - Weight Management Risk Stratification Project and Service Development

• Implementing a New Model of Obesity care in Greater Manchester Integrated Care System

• A Joint Working Project with Sutton PCN - Risk Stratification and Optimisation for Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD) (reapproved February 2026)

• Developing a pathway for the early and accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease including biomarker assessment via cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) (reapproved November 2025)

The Joint Working project between Lilly UK, Dementias Platform UK and 4 NHS Trusts enrolled from the DPUK Trials Delivery Framework in Manchester, Oxford and Sheffield & Sussex won the award for Best Pharmaceutical Partnership with the NHS at the 2025 HSJ Partnership Awards and also won the HSJ Partnership of the Year at the 2025 HSJ Awards.

• Alzheimer’s Disease Care Pathway Optimisation Collaborative Working Project with North Central London Integrated Care System and UCL Partners

• Alzheimer's Disease Care Pathway Optimisation Collaborative Working Project with NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board

• Collaborative Working Project with Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust and UCL Partners – From Presentation to Diagnosis. Characteristics of an Optimal Pathway for Patients with Memory Issues in Primary Care

• Optimising Intravenous (IV) Infusion, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and Outpatient Pathways for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) Treatment

• A Joint Working Agreement with Guys’ and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust - A phased programme for ultrasound technology utilisation in Gastroenterology departments in the UK

• A Joint Working Agreement with St Bartholomew's Hospital - A phased programme for ultrasound technology utilisation in Gastroenterology departments in the UK

• A Joint Working Agreement with Western General Hospital, NHS Lothian - A phased programme for ultrasound technology utilisation in Gastroenterology departments in the UK