Laura-Lee Southall
MPharm MBA MCMI PGDip
Patient Strategy Director
Atlantis Health UK
Imagine this: a groundbreaking intervention proves its worth in a clinical trial, yet years later, it’s still not widely used.
Why? Because translating research into real-world practice is harder than it looks.
This was the central theme of the ESPACOMP 2025 workshop we attended, a session tackling one of healthcare’s biggest challenges—making research matter where it counts, in clinics, hospitals, and communities, reaching the people it was designed to support.
The morning sessions focused on implementation science, a discipline dedicated to bridging the gap between controlled trials and everyday healthcare. Too often, interventions remain trapped in academic journals, never reaching the patients who need them most.
The solution is clear: start planning wider implementation early, not as an afterthought once a trial proves intervention efficacy. Real-world adoption requires understanding the context, what barriers exist, what behaviours need to change, and what resources are available. This means engaging stakeholders from the start, including patients, clinicians and policymakers, and asking the question: how will this work in practice?
Implementation strategies should address barriers and leverage enablers, with success measured not just by clinical results but by how well interventions are accepted, delivered, and sustained.
The important thing is being able to implement successfully by accounting (and measuring) for things like sustainability of the programme, penetration, fidelity and acceptability.
If the morning was about frameworks, the afternoon was about people. A startling statistic set the tone: 85% of medical research funding is wasted, often because objectives and outcomes don’t align with what clinicians and patients actually need.
The fix? Stakeholder engagement. Co-designing interventions with patients, clinicians, and carers uncovers hidden barriers and ensures solutions are relevant, feasible, and desirable.
When stakeholders help design the solution, they become its champions. Clinicians and patients who co-create an intervention are more likely to adopt it. And patients and carers who shape the process are more likely to embrace it.
This key step in the process accelerates translation from research to practice and builds trust from day one. Without this, there is a risk of creating elegant solutions to problems that don’t exist.
Designing effective engagement solutions isn’t guesswork, it’s structured. Mapping the evidence and real patient experiences, their needs and behavioural drivers, and then co-designing relevant solutions can turn abstract concepts into actionable strategies.
For Atlantis Health, these principles aren’t just theory, they’re the foundation of our work. Our patient-centred solution design and delivery process ensures pharma-sponsored interventions combine behavioural science, co-design, and engagement strategies to overcome barriers to adherence, improve experience, and deliver measurable outcomes.
We apply behavioural science to identify real barriers, build lasting motivation, and create patient experiences that work in the real world. We turn insight into action, co-creating programmes that are inclusive, compliant, and grounded in what matters most to patients.
Because when patients feel heard, supported, and empowered, outcomes improve. And that’s not just good for patients, it’s good for science, good for systems, and good for pharma.
If you’re looking for a partner to help you from insight through to implementation, let's talk.
Let’s design behaviour change solutions that put patients at the centre, wherever you are in the product journey.
Reach out to our team or connect with us directly via LinkedIn.