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Hello and welcome to the September blog. Last month Louise shared her thoughts on the benefits of office yoga, but this month I wanted to share something a bit closer to home for our business activities: The Kendal Network.  Logo developed by Karrie Brown at Ms Bandit Wood Art What is the Kendal Network? Well, it’s a group of market access and HEOR experts, professionals and very small agencies. A ‘trusted trader’ network, if you like. I’ll tell you more about it in a bit, but first I want to go back to the beginning. When I first branched out as a freelancer in 2015, I met up with Keith Tolley who I knew from my days at Mapi Values (now Adelphi Values) and who had since established Tolley Health Economics. Keith was a great support and told me about his ideas for a trusted trader network. Keith organised an initial meeting in Kendal (Lake District) with other market access/HEOR professionals and, as such, the Kendal Network was established in 2016. This was followed by a less formal meeting at ISPOR in 2017. Both meetings provided a great opportunity for us all to share our experiences and expertise, as well as discuss hot topics in the industry; consequently, resulting in a number of collaborative opportunities. Earlier this year, after a series of email exchanges, it was agreed that benefit could be derived for all by widening The Kendal Network further. Three of us (me, Louise, and Maximilian Lebmeier) agreed to support Keith and his team in organising another meeting and all put forward suggestions of other potential members who would complement the network. And so, we met on 14th September and were joined by:
As well as providing the opportunity to get to know one another better, the day provided a lot of fruitful discussion and relevant insights on the ‘hot topics’ of the moment. Topics included the NICE scientific advice process, changes being introduced by the SMC for ultra-orphan products, implications of the updated NICE STA process and the changing landscape of clients requiring market access support. I found this really valuable as there are limited opportunities as a freelancer to seek advice or bounce ideas around with someone more experienced, or with different expertise. We also discussed potential opportunities to collaborate and agreed how the Kendal Network should operate. The overall consensus was to continue to operate informally as a network of professionals, providing guidance and advice, and collaborating on HTA and health outcomes projects, as the opportunity arises. There are no plans to turn our offering into a separate consultancy or business. Instead, the aim and benefit of forming connections through the network is to strengthen our individual value propositions. So now you know what The Kendal Network is, feel free to tell your friends and colleagues. Through the network, we now have access to a diverse set of professionals and experts who can support us with HTA and health outcomes projects, as needed. The main benefit of joining together is to learn, share and increase our business opportunities so we have no plans to market The Kendal Network widely, however, you may see our logo from time to time! All the best for the month ahead, Cath Bacon Managing Director & Lead Consultant, Fingerpost Consulting Ltd 
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