How to: Use Comms to support NHS Priorities in 2023/24
It’s the beginning of another year for the public sector and the NHS.
2022/23 was the first year since 2019 where COVID wasn’t necessarily always top of the agenda, and we’ve all been doing our very best to understand what a post-pandemic world really looks like.
The long-term challenges the NHS faces did not observe a polite dignified silence during COVID. They continued, and in many ways were exacerbated by it. And this is what the NHS 2023/24 priorities and operational planning guidance was published in January to address.
And this, is what I feel comms people can do (with a little help of course) to help achieve the 2 big priority areas for the NHS, of recovery and transformation:
Recovering core services and productivity
Getting services back up to speed post-pandemic remains the singular biggest challenge.
Here’s how comms can help make this happen:
- Involving as many people as possible in the process
- Creating a comms strategy that tells the story of continual improvement.
- Producing comms that supports early-diagnosis and prevention among patients helping to reduce pressure on acute services
What we’ve done to support:
During the early pandemic in 2020, and coming out of it last year, we supported two regional cancer alliances in their recovery comms:
Cheshire & Merseyside Cancer Alliance
We led the co-production of a communications strategy for region encompassing recovery and transformation.
We coordinated nationally with NHS England around prevention and symptoms messaging
We helped to tell the story of what good looks like in cancer care, through the experience of a patient who had successful treatment for pancreatic cancer:
East of England Cancer Alliances
We created a communications strategy for region based on service recovery.
We also host a stakeholder workshop day at Newmarket Racecourse to sense-check the regional Cancer Strategy
Delivering the key NHS Long Term Plan ambitions and transforming the NHS
The ambitions for transforming the NHS for the long term are huge and exciting, and will rely to a massive extent on effective comms. For example:
Improving Mental Health
Comms will be critical here in:
- Bringing stakeholders together to co-produce new ways of working across organisational boundaries
- Telling the story of community-based models for service delivery
- Recruiting mental healthcare professionals
What we’ve done to support:
Cheshire Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Creating a video telling the story of the Cheshire and Wirral Community Wellbeing Alliance: a new partnership dedicated to person-centred mental health support:
Prevention
It’s a no brainer. It’s better for people, and better for services. When people are encouraged and empowered to stay well, they’ll enjoy a better quality of life. When services are able to prioritise care for those that really need it, they’ll deliver better care and a better experience.
As ever comms will be critical for getting this right, by:
- Alerting people to symptoms
- Encouraging healthier life choices
- Showing how social infrastructure can encourage healthier living
What we’ve done to support:
Liverpool City Council – Healthy Homes Initiative
As part of a significant project to support the Council’s Transformation programme, we created a short video of the Director of Public Health, highlighting the Healthy Homes initiative, which provides grants for home insulation and renovations, reducing fuel poverty, and making house places that actively support the wellbeing of the residents.
Workforce
Recruitment, retention and development of the right staff, with the right skills and the right values is clearly of huge importance to the NHS in this and future years. With national funding increasing for workforce development, and a potential recruitment crisis on the horizon, the time is undoubtedly now to be making NHS people a priority.
Comms has a pivotal role here too in:
- Delivering impactful recruitment campaigns
- Bringing partners together to pool resources and agree singular recruitment and retention path-ways
- Telling the story of staff experience improvement
What we’ve done to support:
We have done a huge amount of work on NHS workforce development including comms strategies and a range of content. For example:
Health Education East of England - Clinical Learning Environment Strategy animation
We worked with educators and newly qualified nursing professionals to tell the story of their individual journeys, and the mentors that supported them, in their own words, through an animated video:
NHS Northwest London: Northwest London Health and Social Care Academy Tik Tok / Snapchat ads
We created animated ads for TikTok and Snapchat to promote a Careers Fair in London in January, hosted by the Northwest London Health and Social Care Academy, hosted by NHS Northwest London ICS
Sustainability & connectivity
The digital revolution has already made its mark on the NHS, with Electronic Patient Records (EPRs) being rolled out in just about every Trust and every ICS area nationwide. Digital us impacting just about every aspect of the patient journey, from bringing greater convenience to patients, to AI-driven diagnosis.
Comms has a huge role to play in:
- Bringing partners together to share data
- Engaging users in co-production
- Delivering campaigns to increase adoption
What we’ve done to support:
MyCareView project – Cheshire East Council / NHS Cheshire and Merseyside
Across two years, we worked as part of a project team to bring the MyCareView initiative to life among the public of Cheshire East. Based on co-production with local people, we supported the launch of the NHS App with MyCareView: a unique offer for people in Cheshire East, where they could access their hospital as well as their primary care information via the NHS App.
Working closely with Cheshire West and Chester Council’s creative team, we created a brand identity, before producing and managing a massive public awareness programme, leading to the adoption of the app by 50k local people (and growing!)
Continuing improvement
A culture of constant innovation and service evolution is at the heart of the NHS approach to transformation. Whilst this culture is set at the top, it’s more often than not individuals working on the front-line who drive real change to systems.
Comms can support this by:
- Providing forums and systems for bringing new ideas to life
- Telling the story of how ideas emanating from the front-line have made a real impact
What we’ve done to support:
NHS Cheshire and Merseyside – QI and Leadership programme videos
We created a series of videos for NHS professionals across Cheshire and Merseyside to tell the story of innovations they have created, and had supported, that are now creating better patient experiences and an enriched working culture:
NHS Cheshire and Merseyside – workforce resilience animation
We also worked with NHS professionals in the area to hear and illustrate their work in creating better working conditions for their colleagues through, and beyond, the pandemic.
Local empowerment and accountability
2022/23 saw the formalisation of regional Integrated Care Systems which for my money, was a hugely positive development. Reducing competition (for example in staff recruitment), and increased collaboration (for example in data sharing) are two pivotal aspects of this amalgamation that will create the right structure of delivering truly person-centred wrap-around care.
But it doesn’t come without its challenges. And here’s where comms can help too:
- By agreeing joint comms strategies and terms of engagement
- Creating forums for discussion and collaboration
What we’ve done to support:
Humber Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership – Comms structure review
We worked with comms professionals right across the partnership to create a framework for future collaboration. Based on in-depth interviews with around 20 professionals, we created a report with evidence-based recommendations for future development. We also hosted a round-table discussion with key players in the system to talk about implementation for the future.
Humber Coast and Vale – LEAP strategy comms strategy and video launch
Working with clinical professionals and workforce leads across the region, we created a communications strategy for the Learning Environments, Assessments & Placements (LEAP) strategy, which has gone on to inform how the entire programme is structured.
As part of the strategy, we created a video overview, shot across the region:
It’s an exciting time for NHS comms professionals. It’s a time of constant and pivotal change. It’s time for NHS leaders to really embrace the power of impactful communications to enable the long-term sustainable change the NHS needs.
We feel privileged to be along for the journey.
If you need a partner to help support your comms during this time of truly unprecedented change, get in touch.
