Global Patient Week

At Bristol Myers Squibb, patients are our purpose. The stories of our patients and their caregivers inspire and motivate us each day to work smarter and faster to find innovative solutions.

In September, we pause for a week to celebrate and honour our patients and remind employees of our focus on patients. This also allows us to reflect upon, reconnect and align with our mission - to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases.

This year, together with honouring our patients, we also paid homage to the big ideas that transform their lives; the scientific advances that give birth to innovative medicines for today and allow us to invest in science and technology for tomorrow’s discoveries.

During the week, the Bristol Myers Squibb UK&I team heard inspiring stories from patients and learned about their experiences with cardiovascular disease and psoriasis.

We also heard about a prehabilitation programme that Bristol Myers Squibb is working on in partnership with UK cancer charity, Macmillan Cancer Support. Prehabilitation is the first stage of cancer rehabilitation and aims to improve patients’ physical and psychological wellbeing. This programme aims to support and prepare patients for their treatments.

Moreover, through an immersive education series, we connected with our colleagues from around the world and further developed our understanding of medical conditions that impact our patients; heard how each team contributes to transforming patients’ lives through science; and we also took part in community events where BMS employees contributed to charitable causes.

“This week was very special to us in so many ways. It not only gave us the time to pause, reflect and celebrate the work we do, but it also educated and inspired us to keep driving forward, innovating for change that has the potential to transform patients’ lives. And most importantly, it helped us to connect with our purpose; our patients. It is from them and their stories, that we can better understand how our science could improve their prognosis.” Scott Cooke, General Manager, UK & Ireland at Bristol Myers Squibb.

Our vision to transform patients’ lives inspires us every day. Our science and medicines have potentially transformed patient outcomes in areas such as oncology, cardiovascular disease, haematology and immunology. Each year, our innovative medicines help millions of people around the world living with serious diseases¹.

Every day, each of us works to improve outcomes for patients fighting serious diseases. It is through conversation, learning and listening, that we better understand our science and its impact on patients, their families and communities.

“Whether you work in research and development, human resources, information technology or finance, every single one of our employees play a role in helping to create and deliver medicines that have the potential to transform the lives of those that need it the most. Global Patient Week empowers and reminds us that we are one big community, coming together for patients and working towards a single vision. Ultimately, patients are the people we are working for and we keep them at the heart of our decision-making day in, day out,” Hubert Bland, Executive Medical Director, UK & Ireland at Bristol Myers Squibb.

Our work does not stop with medicines. Through meaningful partnerships and collaboration, we strive to find ways to put patients first, address areas of unmet need and increase the quality and access to care for patients in the UK and Ireland.

Some of our collaborative efforts include:

• Supporting Hope for Tomorrow with more than £700,000 of funding to build two new mobile cancer units – Jewel and Christine. Hope for Tomorrow delivers patient care from a fleet of mobile cancer units to communities that need it most, making cancer care more accessible for everyone
• Partnering with Mesothelioma UK to produce a report that highlights the obstacles in the diagnosis pathway, experienced by patients. The report was shared amongst parliamentarians and policy makers to drive awareness of mesothelioma and improve the diagnostic pathway for the disease.
• In 2021, we made grants and donations worth over £650,000 into research and education programmes to raise awareness of serious diseases including different forms of cancer and auto-immune diseases

References 

¹ Patients and Caregivers, BMS.com, https://www.bms.com/gb/patient-and-caregivers.html. Last accessed September 2022

Job bag number: NO-GB-2200238
Date of preparation: September 2022