The QALYity Project

Background

Founded in October 2006 by PatientView and new London-based consultancy, Together4Health, the QALYity Project is an initiative intended to generate action on patients' quality-of-life issues. The Project has currently brought together representatives from 17 different organisations: patient groups, academics, policymakers, and other experts. The Project has two immediate tasks: identification of patients' quality-of-life issues; and encouraging the provision of facilities that can improve patients' quality-of-life requirements within the NHS in England and Wales. The Project has received seed-corn funding for its first year of operation from NovoNordisk, a Danish pharmaceutical company. Funding for the Project's second year will then be sought from different sponsors to ensure the project's independence.

For more information on the background to the QALYity Project, Click here

First Meeting of the QALYity Project

The QALYity Project held its first meeting on November 17th 2006, at the King's Fund, London. A presentation was made by Marcia Kelson, Head of the Patient Involvement Unit, the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE).

For the Minutes of the first QALY Project meeting, Click here

For more information on Ms Kelson's presentation, Click here

What Do Patients Mean by 'Quality of Life'?

The first survey by the QALYity Project, December 2006-January 2007:

The QALYity Project sent a questionnaire to national, regional and local patient/health advocacy groups across England and Wales, exploring their opinions on the subject of patients' quality of life. 271 groups responded to the survey.

For the results of the QALYity project's first quality-of-life survey, Click here

For a list of 108 UK health advocacy groups particularly interested in quality-of-life issues, Click here

The second survey by the QALYity Project, March 2007-September 2007
During 2007, PatientView and HSCNews International each carried out a survey of patients on the subject of their quality of life. Generating responses from 3,471 patients, the two surveys together rank among the world's largest on the topic of patients' quality of life. They were also unique in being the first surveys ever in which patients themselves defined what constitutes their quality of life.

The PatientView survey was conducted among 2,286 patients in England and Wales on behalf of the QALYity Project, and ran from March-September 2007. A parallel HSCNews survey of 1,185 patients worldwide ran from March-June 2007. The results of both surveys were pooled, and published in a pair of issues of HSCNews : issue 37 (June 2007) (click here for a free PDF of this issue), and issue 39 (October 2007) (click here for a free PDF of this issue).

A peer-reviewed article on the QALYity Project/PatientView England and Wales survey is due to be published in the British Journal of Healthcare Management (BJHCM).