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Prevention
What is secondary prevention?
Secondary prevention refers to interventions aimed at detecting and treating disease early in individuals who are already at risk or have been diagnosed with a condition, with the goal of preventing progression, complications, or recurrence. Unlike primary prevention, which seeks to stop disease before it occurs, secondary prevention focuses on patients who are already known to the healthcare system. Examples include regular monitoring, lifestyle support, medication adherence, and early intervention programs.
Novartis is supporting the NHS to strengthen secondary prevention because patients in this category are already engaged with healthcare services and are often high users of hospital and specialist resources.
By improving the approach to secondary prevention, through structured monitoring, proactive interventions, and more efficient care pathways, avoidable complications and hospitalisations can be reduced, leading to:
- Better patient outcomes through early detection and timely intervention.
- Reduced pressure on NHS resources, as fewer high-cost emergency or inpatient services are needed.
- Improved efficiency by focusing on patients already known to the system, rather than relying on reactive care.
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Prevention is a cornerstone of sustainable healthcare. By identifying people at risk earlier and intervening before conditions worsen, the NHS can help people live longer, healthier lives.
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Secondary care accounts for the largest portion of NHS spending,1 much of it driven by patients who develop complications or require urgent interventions that could have been prevented. Effective secondary prevention helps limit progression, prevent costly events, and reduce pressure on acute care.
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Strengthening secondary prevention services is a clear priority within the Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England,2 particularly in areas such as cardiovascular disease and oncology. Novartis UK is committed to working alongside NHS partners to help turn this ambition into practical, sustainable and scalable change.
Supporting earlier identification and proactive care
Effective secondary prevention depends on timely identification of risk and consistent follow-up. Across our collaborative working projects, Novartis supports this approach through services that help intervene earlier in the disease pathway, enabling more informed and proactive care.
This includes:
- Better use of existing data
- Implementing digital tools that surface unmet need
- Helping teams focus resources where it can have the greatest preventive impact
For example, we have partnered with Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust on a collaborative working project using the population health search tool Graphnet, to identify atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) patients in need of review and management. This approach aims to reduce referral backlogs in secondary care and help prevent avoidable health events through a more sustainable model of lipid management.3
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Improving monitoring and review across pathways
Variation in follow‑up, alongside capacity constraints and other challenges, may lead to inconsistencies in patient support. Novartis UK works with NHS partners to strengthen systems to enable clearer monitoring pathways and improved continuity of care.
This can include:
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Smarter workforce
utilisation
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Pathway
redesign
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Training and
upskilling
We recently worked on a collaborative working project with Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust focused on redesigning and expanding their multiple sclerosis (MS) service. This project introduced a dedicated MS Specialist Nurse role to support in reducing the backlog of MS patients through additional review, management, and follow-ups, resulting in an increase in clinical capacity, reduction in waiting times, and improved time to treatment.4
By striving for a more efficient, sustainable service model, we can support a strong secondary prevention agenda by enabling earlier detection of disease activity, faster therapeutic intervention, and timely follow‑up to reduce progression risk for patients.
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Enabling care beyond the hospital setting
Delivering secondary prevention in the most appropriate setting is critical to improving outcomes and system productivity.
Novartis supports NHS partners who are exploring models designed to reach patients in a community setting, including primary care and pharmacy-led services.
By bringing necessary services closer to patients, we can improve access, reduce pressure on acute services, and support populations who may otherwise be disengaged from traditional services.
Find out more about our collaborative working project with South East London Integrated Care Board (ICB) and King's Health Partners to implement community-based cardiovascular disease (CVD) testing in South East London.5
Strengthening systems, not just services
Secondary prevention is most effective when it is embedded across the whole system rather than delivered in isolation.
Our collaborative working projects focus on system-level improvement. By applying service-improvement methodologies alongside clinical insight and data-driven approaches, we support NHS teams to build prevention into routine care delivery.
This system-focused approach helps create sustainable improvements that endure beyond individual initiatives.
Discover how we’ve partnered at a system level to implement prevention-focused strategies that strengthen breast cancer pathways - supporting earlier patient identification and enabling timely intervention.
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Supporting sustainability and health equity
Consistent secondary prevention improves individual outcomes, but its impact extends far beyond the patient.
By reducing avoidable admissions, prevention-focused care helps relieve pressure on stretched services and supports the long-term sustainability of the NHS. When designed with equity in mind, it can also help address unwarranted variation and reduce health inequalities by ensuring preventive care reaches those most at risk of ill health.
This aligns closely with Novartis’s health inequalities pledge and our commitment to transparent, compliant collaboration that delivers shared value.
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References:
HFMA. NHS Finance. Available at: https://www.hfma.org.uk/system/files/2024-01/HFMA%20introductory%20guide%20to%20NHS%20finance_January%202024.pdf [Last Accessed June 2026]
NHS England. Fit For the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6888a0b1a11f859994409147/fit-for-the-future-10-year-health-plan-for-england.pdf [Last accessed: June 2026]
Novartis UK. Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust. Available from: https://www.novartis.com/uk-en/about/partnerships/collaborative-working/buckinghamshire-healthcare-nhs-trust [Last accessed: June 2026]
Novartis UK. Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust. Available from: https://www.novartis.com/uk-en/about/partnerships/collaborative-working/frimley-health-nhs-foundation-trust-ms-service-redesign [Last accessed: June 2026]
Novartis UK. King’s Health Partners. Available from: https://www.novartis.com/uk-en/about/partnerships/collaborative-working/kings-health-partners [Last accessed: June 2026]
UK | June 2026 | FA-11624069 Fictional patient and healthcare professional images.
Adverse events should be reported. Reporting forms and information can be found at www.mhra.gov.uk/yellowcard. Adverse events should also be reported to Novartis online through the pharmacovigilance intake (PVI) tool at www.novartis.com/report, or alternatively email [email protected] or call 01276 698370.
