Farhana Hawthorn, Head of Public Affairs and Communications at PAGB, is responsible for the development and implementation of PAGB’s public affairs, healthcare policy, media, and digital communications programmes to help shape the policy environment in line with PAGB’s strategy.
Introduction to PAGB’s strategic pillar one
As 2024 came to an end, so did PAGB’s 5-year strategy from 2019. It was impressive to see how successful the organisation had been in achieving its objectives. Building on this strong foundation, our approach to shaping the mission and vision for the next five years, to see us to 2029, was one of evolution, not revolution—continuing and enhancing the momentum already established.
Working closely with our members, we developed our new vision and mission:
Our vision is for the UK to lead the way in consumer healthcare, underpinned by a robust regulatory and policy framework, offering unparalleled access to products that empower consumers to self-care with confidence.
Our mission is for PAGB to be the expert voice of the consumer healthcare industry, shaping the future of self-care through self-regulation and advocacy.
In order to achieve these goals PAGB identified four strategic pillars. I’m here to tell you more about strategic pillar one: Influencing Stakeholders and Policy
Over the next five years, we are focused on influencing stakeholders and policy to unlock the full potential of the consumer healthcare sector. By building strong partnerships and addressing barriers to access and innovation, we aim to ensure that self-care is at the forefront of the UK’s health agenda. To achieve this, we have identified a number of critical success factors for 2025-2029:
- Embedding self-care policy within the UK health agenda: We are advocating for self-care policy that reflects our key asks, ensuring it is an integral part of the UK’s health agenda.
- Widening and streamlining access to self-care: Through reclassification and other innovations, we aim to remove barriers and enhance consumer access to effective self-care options.
- Minimising post-Brexit disruption while facilitating innovation: We remain committed to working with stakeholders to navigate regulatory changes and seize opportunities for innovation in a post-Brexit environment.
- Strengthening key stakeholder relationships: We will continue to build and maintain strong relationships both within the UK and internationally to support the growth of the consumer healthcare sector.
These critical success factors are supported by an integrated communications plan that ensures consistent and coordinated delivery of all our strategic objectives, which are appropriately communicated with our members.
Self-care plan of activity
In order to deliver each of the critical success factors above, we have developed a number of goals to help us achieve success. If we take self-care policy as an example, we will look to:
