1. PR Week Awards – Public Affairs
Access for All (Scotland) campaign - Beating Bowel Cancer with Indigo
Why should the campaign win the award?
The Scottish Government bowed to pressure to end a postcode lottery that denied patients access to cancer drugs that were
freely available in England.
From a standing start, with no initial presence in Scotland and with minimal budget, our ‘hearts and minds’ campaign resulted in
the end of a system that was failing cancer patients. The issues were lifted to the top of a political agenda that was dominated
by the referendum, with the First Minister and the Cabinet Secretary answering questions in Parliament and the media, pushing
them to take action without delay.

2. PR Week Awards – Public Affairs
Access for All (Scotland) campaign - Beating Bowel Cancer with Indigo
Campaign Budget: below £10,000
What was the purpose of the campaign?
As a charity advocating for bowel cancer patients, we received reports from Scottish patients unable to access treatments that
their clinicians felt could benefit them, as patients in England could. In response, we had a clear goal – to end restrictions on
access to treatments for bowel cancer. The widening disparity was leading to a postcode lottery for cancer between nations,
meaning Scottish patients were three times less likely to get the latest cancer drugs than patients in England
1
. They were forced
to pay £3,000 a month to fund treatment themselves, or else forego the treatment because they couldn’t afford it, with tragic
consequences. Some were forced to consider relocation to another region, or cross the border to England.
Despite acknowledgement from across the political spectrum that there was a problem with Scotland’s poor provision of new
cancer medicines, there was no urgency by Government or even some cancer charities in Scotland to address the immediate
needs of cancer patients. It was clear patients’ voices needed to be heard without delay, whilst a new, solution was needed to
give patients certainty that they would be able to access the drugs they needed to help prolong their lives. Our campaign, with
its Triple Lock formula proposal did just that.
Objectives
To ensure Scottish bowel cancer patients had access to the same drugs as their neighbours in England by lobbying for the
abolition of the current IPTR process and securing the adoption of our Triple Lock model, through:
 Increasing political and media pressure on the Scottish Government to take immediate and decisive action to resolve the
problems facing patients.
 Highlighting patient concerns by developing a network of informed and empowered patient advocates.
 Ensuring Beating Bowel Cancer was accepted by key stakeholders as a leading authority and commentator on the issue.
Strategy
Against a background of the Government’s New Medicines Review and a Parliamentary Inquiry into access to new medicines, we
had to ensure that key stakeholders knew Beating Bowel Cancer was advocating for patients in Scotland; by clearly and
decisively establishing our position on fairer access very quickly in order to move the political debate along. We set out to
engage with patients, parliamentarians and policymakers through a sustained and prolonged ‘hearts and minds’ media and
lobbying campaign highlighting the plight of patients denied access to key bowel cancer drugs and influencing any proposed
improvements, and subsequent solutions with our own Triple Lock model.
Method Deployed
May 2013
 Highlighted the issues in MSP briefing papers and letters to opposition spokespersons on health and co-conveners of the
parliamentary Cross-Party Group on Cancer.
 Sourced and worked with 4 patients who were being denied drugs. Arranged one to one meetings with MSPs and media
editors.
 Private meetings with opposition health spokespeople calling for urgent action on drug access. Ensured Scottish Labour
leader Johann Lamont MSP raised the issue at First Minister’s Questions two weeks running, highlighting a case of a patient
forced to move to England. Headline after headline focusing on Scotland’s ‘health refugees’ appears in Daily Express, Press
and Journal, Daily Mail, Daily Record, The Herald, The Scotsman, STV and BBC Scotland.
 We released our Triple Lock model to key stakeholders, winning early endorsement from clinicians, pharmaceutical
companies and patients. Triple Lock was circulated to MSPs as a way to break the policy impasse.
 A one-to-one meeting with Health Secretary Alex Neil and key officials, including Head of Medicines Policy Kathryn
Fergusson.
 Submitted evidence to the Parliamentary Health & Sport Committee criticising IPTRs and the recommendations of the New
Medicines Review. Our submission receives extensive coverage in Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Sunday Times, The Herald,
The Metro, The Sun, The Scotsman, Edinburgh Evening News and Glasgow Evening Times.
 Beating Bowel Cancer responses to a survey highlighting that a third of oncologists knew of patients moving across the
border to get treatment generating 27 media mentions.
 ‘Scandal of Scotland’s NHS Postcode Lottery’ makes front page headlines in Scottish Mail on Sunday with bowel cancer
patient forced to pay £3,000 a month for treatment.
 ‘Cancer care apartheid denies Scots drugs’ appears in follow up article in Mail on Sunday.
 ‘Cancer Drugs: A Great Victory’ front page headline in Mail on Sunday. Further articles in Daily Mail and Daily Express.
1
Rarer Cancers Foundation, Nations divided? An assessment of variations in access to cancer treatments for patients in England, Scotland and
Wales, August 2011

3. PR Week Awards – Public Affairs
Access for All (Scotland) campaign - Beating Bowel Cancer with Indigo
 Cabinet Secretary Alex Neil goes head to head with Beating Bowel Cancer CEO, Mark Flannagan, in an hour long debate on
BBC Scotland’s flagship morning phone-in show ‘Call Kaye’. On the same day, we secured a 1000-word article on the leader
page of The Scotsman under the by-line ‘Scotland needs free, fair cancer drug access.’
June-Sept 2013
 Our Triple Lock model was submitted to the Parliament’s Health & Sports Committee as part of its inquiry into new
medicines. Participated in a stakeholder consultation to review MSP recommendations and called for immediate changes to
fix the problem.
 As the Health and Sports Committee publishes its report. We were one of just four organisations singled out for their
constructive approach in working with government on improving the system. The report generates wide coverage with the
charity quoted in The Scotsman, The Times, The Herald, The Press and Journal, Sunday Express.
 The Scotsman publishes further opinion piece under the by-line ‘Give bowel cancer patients the drugs they need’.
 Sustained coverage in the Mail on Sunday and the Daily Mail under headlines ‘Drugs row cancer patient must beg for her life
– yet again’ and ‘Watchdog condemns NHS over drug refusal ’. Further front page headline ‘My joy over drug war’ in Mail
on Sunday, including editorial comment.
 Sustained coverage in Sunday Post of bowel cancer patient under headline ‘Cancer mum forced to take handouts to fund
vital treatment’
October – December 2013
 Death of IPTR system as the Government announces new Peer Approved Clinical System. The key principle underpinning
our model – that the patient’s clinician should be at the heart of decisions over drug access – is embedded within the
Government’s new system, due to be unveiled in May 2014.
 Alex Neil speaks at the Beating Bowel Cancer Parliamentary reception where he commits to ensuring cancer patients are
not unduly disadvantaged by promising to do all he could to break down the barriers giving more patients access to the
drugs they need.
Outcomes
The campaign delivered a new system for accessing cancer drugs. From a standing start with no initial presence in Scotland, our
media and lobbying campaign pressurised ministers to end a system that was failing cancer patients. The issues were lifted to
the top of the political agenda, with the First Minister and the Cabinet Secretary answering questions in Parliament and the
media, pushing them to take action without delay. We ensured that Beating Bowel Cancer was accepted as a leading authority
and commentator on the issue of drugs access with all key stakeholders. At the end of the campaign, the Cabinet Secretary
announced a package of improvements including the scrapping of IPTR, replacing it with a Peer Approved Clinical System
(PACS) which has the principle of our policy solution, Triple Lock, at its centre. We had clear acknowledgement that the
Government listened to patients and adopted our solution.
Relation to objectives and cost-effectiveness
The role of patient advocates was central to our campaign. With minimal budget, we focused on identifying and then targeting
key political influencers and media editors with strong patient stories which bought the issues to life. By facilitating meetings
between patients and their MSPs we ensured key parliamentary champions who were able to cite patients in parliamentary
debates. We forced the First Minister to defend the provision of cancer drugs in the Chamber - with a patient who felt let down
sitting directly above him in the public gallery. We forced the key decision maker - the Cabinet Secretary for Health – into a live
broadcast debate that pitted him against our most powerful influencers; the actual patients who would be affected by his
decisions. As a pragmatic politician, the Cabinet Secretary stated in our meeting that the only way to make the headlines go
away was if he listened to the patients.
Creativity / originality
Patients were front and central to our lobbying. Strong, emotive patient stories caught the imagination of the national media.
We worked closely with a number of patients (and their families) to facilitate targeted media interviews securing the support of
key national editors which generated timely front page headlines and comment, bringing audiences right to the heart of the
problem. We also managed to present a totally novel policy solution, which government explicitly told us ‘led to the conclusion
that the patient’s lead clinician who will know them best should be central to the decision making process’ (Scottish Government
Health and Social Care Directorate).
People
Beating Bowel Cancer: Stuart Barber, Campaigns Director; Elspeth McAusland, Head of Communications; Mark Flannagan, Chief
Executive. Indigo: Peter Smyth, public affairs consultancy. Patient Advocates: Janice
*
and Alan Glasswell. Ian
*
and Jacqui
Morrison. Maureen and Ian Fleming. June
*
and Graeme Rankin. Tina McGeever. Isabelle and Matt McManus
. *
These patients have
subsequently passed away.