A panel designed for patients, by the patient community

The Cancer Insights Panel was developed to gather the perspectives of people impacted by cancer and enable Pfizer Oncology to act on the issues most important to those affected by the disease.

Bringing together a diverse group of 30 people with lived experience of cancer, either as a patient, carer or family member, Pfizer Oncology unearthed a wealth of insights relating to each stage of the patient journey – from pre-diagnosis through to end-of-life care.

At Pfizer, we’re committed to putting patients first. Utilising Pfizer’s own resources and through collaboration with other healthcare partners, we hope to identify opportunities to co-create solutions that could plug some of the gaps identified by the panel.

Continue reading to learn more about how the Cancer Insights Panel was created and designed.

The Pfizer Oncology Patient Experience team looked to identify a group who represented the needs and voices of a broad range of people affected by cancer.

Recruitment for the first Cancer Insights Panel resulted in over 400 applications, from which 30 people were selected following a series of telephone interviews. The final group of participants represented diversity in age, location, race and the type of cancer experienced.

Those selected also demonstrated passion for improving the patient experience, confidence to voice their opinions and provide constructive feedback, and a willingness to listen and respect differing opinions.

Split into two smaller groups based in the north and south of England, the panel members met every three to four months over an 18-month period. Each meeting focused on understanding the panel members’ non-medical experience at different stages in the cancer journey, including:

• Pre-diagnosis and awareness
• Diagnosis
• Treatment period
• Post treatment
• Survivorship, living with cancer and end-of-life care

The anonymised insights were collated, categorised and tagged to allow them to be easily sorted and shared as appropriate.

The Pfizer Oncology team are using the insights to identify actionable opportunities and to inform patient strategy moving forward.