“I think the simple answer is, we are listening to our clients and we are changing how we work to suit their needs, now and for the long term.” Says John Johnson, Vice President of Pharmaceutical Services. “Effective communication requires more reception and very well-chosen transmission; we listen more and speak only when there is something valuable to say. What has been key to us is our desire to keep listening, keep responding and keep innovating in tune with a quite different world ahead.”
Here are just some of the ways NSF has transformed their services to better meet their clients’ needs:
When travel and hotel restrictions came into force, NSF transformed more than 80% of their face to-face training into virtual courses, utilising training platforms that would enhance interactivity, promote online discussion, problem solving and knowledge transfer.
As time was tight for many training participants, NSF refined and simplified key learning objectives, improved visuals and provided more efficient and targeted training sessions. For international participants who couldn’t travel, they presented virtual courses to suit different time zones around the world. Find out more about pharmaceutical training >>
When clients were unable to perform GMP inspections due to travel restrictions, NSF developed a four-step approach to remote and virtual auditing that helped their clients to unlock supply chains and meet cGMP needs. This risk-based approach provides interim or conditional approval of facilities and quality systems during periods of uncertainty or governmental restrictions. Find out more about remote and virtual auditing >>
For those needing rapid access to support and/or business solutions, NSF expanded their remote GxP consultancy services. This allows clients to access NSF’s team of experts for 1:1 coaching and consultancy via videoconferencing, remote policy and SOP reviews and pharma quality system support. Find out more about remote GxP consultancy >>
To provide additional support, NSF adapted their communication schedule, focusing their efforts on generating ‘crisis management’ resources. They created white papers, videos, webinars and podcasts on topics such as resilience, change management and communication methods under pressure. Visit the knowledge library >>
New Journal Now Online!
View the latest edition of the Journal which includes articles on new ways of working in pharma operations, risk-evaluation and mitigation strategies, a thought leadership piece from Martin Lush and all the latest regulatory updates including COVID-19 driven changes, clinical trial regulations and ICH and medical device news. View NSF’s latest Health Sciences Journal >>
Success Story
NSF allows their clients and colleagues in industry to drive their services whilst keeping them informed of best practice, regulatory trends and changing cGMP and quality system expectations. Here is one of their recent success stories as told by John Johnson, VP of Pharmaceutical Services. “We were contracted to assist a multi-national contract manufacturing organization who were told their new product introduction lead-times were too long, costs were too high and the level of validation-related GMP deviations was eroding trust. On analysis by an NSF team of experts, it was clear that the policies and SOPs in place were difficult to follow and contradictory. It was easier to deviate from them than to follow them! It meant that the team responsible for validation was constantly debating the interpretation of the SOPs, the scope of the work in-hand and when executing them, found a litany of concerns from GMP deviations to data integrity issues.
“Redoing validation trials was a troublesome recurring issue that put pressure on those activities further down the program; especially those close to the target completion date. This led to huge pressures on those responsible, adding stress and recrimination to a project often already overdue. Using NSF’s established systems for process simplification, our team of experts were about to help the client to reduce the number of instructions within the set of validation policies and SOPs by over 60%, shortening new product introduction lead-times on average by more than three weeks. Repeating validation trials dropped by over 70%, as the simplification process made the trial descriptions less ambiguous, simpler to follow and easier to approve. This assignment transformed our client’s business and they were able to increase capacity for new production contracts by more than 40% within 12 months.”
