Winner
Travel with IBD
Summary of work
Travel for people living with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) can be highly stressful. Takeda UK and the patient advocacy group Crohn’s & Colitis UK were working separately to help improve the day-to-day experience for those living with IBD.
Both parties quickly realised the opportunity for true collaboration and partnership to maximise their individual efforts. Travel with IBD mobilised the travel industry to take key actions that would make a real difference to people living with IBD.
The aim was for widespread adoption of accessible toilet signage across the UK’s 27 main travel hubs (airports, rail stations, service stations) and to raise public awareness that not every disability is visible.
The challenge was to motivate significant numbers of people to email travel hub bosses, calling for change.
A successful national launch of survey results to media gained public attention. The results of the initiative speak for themselves: members of the public sent 50,464 campaign emails and 15 travel hubs have committed to adopting accessible toilet signage to date.
The campaign continues to scale with training resources provided to travel hubs and has also expanded to Ireland. Furthermore, the increasing use of these new signs is raising awareness of different kinds of disabilities amongst the general population.
Judges’ comments
Travel with IBD demonstrated extensive national partnerships with stakeholders, and drove a change in the marketplace. It was a well-executed strategy that was inspired by a real patient need and, most importantly, it made a tangible difference.
