GLAXOSMITHKLINE continued its contribution to charitable programmes in the UK, supporting more than 200 projects in health care, medical research, science education, the arts and the environment. With a £1 million donation and in partnership with Imperial College and the Specialist Schools Trust, GSK is helping to improve school students’ interest and achievement in science and increase the number of science teachers through the INSPIRE (INnovative Scheme for Post-docs in Research and Education) scheme. The company supported Beating Bowel Cancer's national awareness campaign, identifying the early symptoms of this disease. The Epilepsy Research Foundation, International Spinal Research Trust, National Osteoporosis Society and Tommy’s (the baby charity) received funding totalling £350,000 in support of their medical research programmes.

FUJISAWA continues to support the National Kidney Federation, the British Transplant Society, the National Eczema Society and the Skin Care Campaign. It has been the first company to support a home delivery service to deliver medication to patients who have received an organ transplant.

ORTHO BIOTECH has worked with Tenovus, Ovacome, the ovarian cancer charity and the International Myeloma Foundation (UK) on a campaign designed to make people with cancer aware of the importance of their haemoglobin levels.

PFIZER has a number of projects in the community, working with a wide range of partners, including patient support groups and NHS trusts. This includes the established Art Works in Mental Health tour that aims at showcasing the work of people suffering from mental illness. Pfizer also helps to set up memory clinics and primary care based pain clinics across the UK. Pfizer is currently working with the 17 Air Ambulance charities based around the UK, encouraging their staff to raise funds and awareness for this vital service. Company staff are allowed a maximum of five days, paid leave per year for volunteering in their local communities.

In the area of mental health, WYETH is sponsoring Neurolink, an independent board of experts in mental health, which offers patient-centred resources and training for health care professionals caring for people with depressive illness or anxiety disorders. Wyeth has also launched the National Training Portfolio, a range of generic ‘soft skill’ training courses for the NHS. The company provides a number of scholarships to help sponsor students through their university education and has supported local schools in their bids to become Specialist Science and Business & Enterprise Colleges.

ABBOTT supports many healthcare charities and campaigns such as the British Lung Foundation’s Little Lungs are for Life campaign. In Queenborough, Kent, there is a company tradition of fundraising for local and national charities such as Cancer Research UK, Kent Air Ambulance, and the Freedom Centre based on the Isle of Sheppey, which gives disabled people between 16 and 64 years old a better quality of life. Abbott’s Healthcare Development Team works closely with Primary Care Organisations and Strategic Health Authorities to develop and implement joint partnerships in tackling local health needs.

MERCK SHARP & DOHME continues to support many organisations involved in patient care, support and advocacy, including Arthritis Care, the Arthritis & Musculoskeletal Alliance, the National Osteoporosis Society, the British Cardiac Patients Association, Heart UK and the Men’s Health Forum. The company also supports several environmental, educational and school projects among the local communities through its Neighbour of Choice programme, such as the Nightingale Community Hospice Trust, an Enfield-based charity addressing the needs of residents who are affected by cancer.

ELI LILLY launched the Well-Being Support Programme at eight Mental Health Trusts, offering a nursing resource for people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The programme aims to offer a holistic approach to care for people with severe mental disorder.

Working on a voluntary basis, staff at AMERSHAM give their time to take part in charitable activities, making their skills available to the local community. Amersham in the Community is open to all who wish to take part. In addition, the company made donations and gifts in kind in 2003 to the value of more than £110,000 to charities and good causes, including a substantial donation towards a daily programme for children in Buckinghamshire with motor neurone disorders.

An initiative between NOVARTIS and South West Dorset PCT provided the organisation with the tools, processes and know-how for primary care practices to deliver better healtcare against the milestones set by the National Service Framework for Coronary Heart Disease. Novartis has also created a dermatology resource tool for GPs in the Medway area. The company has also worked with several PCTs to run communications workshops, Building Healthy Partnerships, attended by around 500 people.

ASTRAZENECA supports the Brightside Trust, a charity that aims to help underprivileged young people to enter the medical and healthcare professions, an initiative involving a one-year secondment to the charity and a contribution of £100,000 over three years. AstraZeneca is also working with the Faculty of Prescribing and Medicines Management to support pharmacists in primary care in their first nationwide professional skills development programme.

A nurse-run asthma audit service, Aspire, was unveiled by SCHERING-PLOUGH as a tool to help GPs identify patients in their practice whose asthma might be better controlled.

YAMANOUCHI has contributed to collaborative projects with specialist hospital units and GP health centres across the country to encourage better access for patients for early assessment. It has also been involved with GP practice campaigns in the field of men’s health to increase communication, including the sponsorship of leaflets in a number of ethnic languages. It continued its European Foundation Award to a team of researchers in Galway and Dublin for a second year.

Community Spirit is a community initiative launched by BOEHRINGER INGELHEIM which will enable the company to work closer with the communities in which its employees live and work. Employees will be able to take up to two days’ paid leave a year to get involved in community activities.

AVENTIS is supporting two diabetes initiatives – Life’s better under 7, a public educational campaign for diabetics highlighting the importance of proper glycaemic control – and Insulin for Life, an education programme for GPs and practice nurses to manage the intensification of type 2 diabetes treatment to achieve better health outcomes. Aventis has also sponsored and facilitated cancer campaigning groups made up of 20 charity cancer organisations in England and Wales, and 14 in Scotland. Calls for Action to the Department of Health and the Scottish Executive have been launched to drive better management of cancer in the UK. In the local community, the three Aventis UK sites support schools and community projects, and encourage active participation of their employees in charity events.

SANOFI-SYNTHELABO continues to work in partnership with charities in areas as diverse as diabetes, oncology, mental health, vascular disease and men's health. Each of its sites maintains links with local community projects and charities, and the company has held several fund raising events from which employees have been able to send well over £10,000 to their chosen charities. In addition, Sanofi-Synthélabo is committed to working with NHS organisations across the UK, helping them to achieve healthcare targets for patients in their care.

JANSSEN-CILAG has worked with 14 Mental Health Trusts across the country in the field of guideline development on the basis of the recommendations of the National Institute of Clinical Excellence. Warwick Diabetes Care is a centre providing the highest standards of diabetes education, and Johnson & Johnson provides support for health care professionals, carers and people with diabetes through the Diabetes Primary Care Education Programme.

SCHERING HEALTH CARE announced plans to boost its annual multiple sclerosis patient care investment by 30 per cent to £3.5 million. Part of this will pay for the recruitment and training of 12 specialist nurses to help in MS centres up and down the country. The company also donated £87,000 to a local hospital to fund the latest Hysteroscopy Suite facilities and became the major local sponsor of a nearby school to receive specialist Science College status.

ROCHE has a wide range of support programmes for patients, health care professionals and NHS commissioners and managers. These include a patient support programme for obese and seriously overweight people, with the company funding a team of Obesity Management Advisers who train practice nurses in setting up local weight management centres, and specialist nurses and resource materials to support, advise and train patients for bowel and breast cancer, chronic anaemia and cystic fibrosis in their own homes. Roche also developed new tools for training in hepatitis C, kidney disease and heart attacks and supported NHS partnership programmes.