A new report by The King's Fund has called for Government and NHS leaders to drive a stronger partnership between the NHS and life sciences industry.

The King's Fund argues partnership working with the life sciences industry provides a valuable option for bringing in additional resources and expertise to improve the quality of care in the NHS.

Siva Anandaciva, chief analyst at The King's Fund, and co- author of the report, said: ‘Rigorously managed partnerships between the NHS and life sciences companies, delivered within clear guidance, have the potential to improve patient care. The resources, skills and capacity of industry can help pump-prime changes in the NHS that many patients want to see and staff want to deliver.'

Anandaciva said the report found several barriers to blocking the benefits of industry collaboration, however, including ‘a common mistrust of partnerships with pharmaceutical firms, often based on a suspicion of their profit motives and historic experiences of their sales and marketing activity'.

He called for NHS leaders to work with industry to ‘co-own joint guidance and robust approaches to joint working'.

As well as making several recommendations for national and local health service leaders, the report from The King's Fund outlines a series of principles to underpin successful, ethical and transparent NHS and life sciences partnerships.