Public dialogue - How do we weigh up the benefits and harms of medicines?

The deadline for the submission of questions was 15 February 2016. We cannot guarantee that any questions submitted after this date will be answered before the application deadline.

Further to the background information presented in paragraphs 6 and 7 of the ITT and the information provided in the literature review, we would find it helpful to have further clarification on the gaps in knowledge that are expected to be filled through this public dialogue.

The questions raised in section 31 of the dialogue tender give an indication of the areas that the Oversight Group are most interested in understanding the broader societal views on.

Given the available budget is it anticipated that the dialogue will run in England only or in the UK?

Funding for the project has been received from organisations with a UK-wide remit. The Academy is a national organisation and our Fellows are drawn from organisations across the UK. As such applicants can choose locations for events across the UK, not just in England.

We have not defined or set any quota for the locations to be visited as part of the dialogue. Applicants should propose locations that will best fit their chosen approach within the project budget. We would expect dialogue events to take place in more than one location and that locations are chosen to enable a broad spectrum of participants to be recruited. The dialogue will also involve recruiting people who are broadly representative of the local population, for example, in terms of gender, lifestage, social grade/household income, geography, religion and ethnicity so locations should be chosen with that in mind. We would expect applicants to include a brief rationale behind any chosen locations.

We note under ‘pricing’ in section 82 that suppliers will provide a firm lump sum price for the project. Could we clarify if this includes the costs of venue hire and catering for the dialogue events?

Yes the firm lump sum should include all costs associated with the dialogue events including venue hire, catering and travel.

Does the Academy and/ or members of the Oversight Group have locations/ venues that you would like potential suppliers to include in proposals and costings?

Neither the Academy nor the Oversight Group has defined specific locations for the dialogue events. Applicants are free to propose any locations/venue in the UK, but are advised to include a brief rationale behind the choice.

Could you specify the kind of support the Academy Office, as secretariat to the work stream, will be able to provide to the dialogue (paragraph 58)?

The secretariat will provide support by acting as a point of contact to the Oversight Group members and Academy Fellows to coordinate attendance at dialogue events. The secretariat can also provide support to help the dialogue contractor with the development of resources for the dialogue. We would expect the contractor to lead on the production or resources; however the secretariat and the Oversight Group can provide comment and advice during any drafting phase.

What range of professions does the Academy understand to be included in the ‘healthcare providers’ specified in paragraph 43?

We see the term ‘healthcare professionals’ to include GPs, nurses, community and other primary care service providers. (as defined in Paragraph 35 of the tender document). In addition to those mentioned in the tender applicants may wish to consider those who are required to communicate evidence about medicines on a professional basis such as pharmacists, psychiatrists or providers of mental health services.

To what extent will material from the three other sub-projects be available to the dialogue, particularly in relation to specific case studies?

Copies of all the material from the sub-projects listed in paragraph 27 of the tender document will be provided to the chosen contractor.  

The following will be provided to the contractor on appointment

•              Summary of the written evidence submitted to the work stream and links to individual submissions

•              Report of a workshop on ‘Evaluating evidence in health’

•              Report of a workshop on ‘Conflicts of interest’

It is expected that a final or draft versions of the following will be available after appointment and during the planning phase.

•              Background paper to the ‘Communicating evidence’ workshop

•              Summary of the elements explored in the ‘Methods of evaluating evidence’ sub-project

Current case studies and examples that have been explored through the project to date have included statins, HRT and vaccinations. Information on these examples will be provided on appointment.

It would be helpful to know as we write our proposal the extent to which Oversight Group members will be able to commit to attending public dialogue sessions.

Members of the Oversight Group have all expressed an interest in attending the dialogue sessions however this will be dependent on their availability on any dates chosen. We will endeavour to have one or more of the following representatives at all of the dialogue sessions – Oversight Group member, sub project group member, Academy Fellow, member of AMS staff.