by Mark Flannagan
Almost every professional communicator will have been asked at some point in their career to “just do a bit of comms”. One benefit of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a new found recognition that, within the NHS, the strategic role of public relations has finally been recognised and accepted.
You’ll learn:
• How high quality, continuous, timely communications delivery helped keep the public and staff informed in the heat of the crisis
• Why virtual events are here to stay
• How the pandemic has enabled the creation of marketing assets with a more unified and public friendly look and feel
Those who work in NHS communications are particularly familiar with the handed down ideas from others to: “Just do a bit of comms”, “Please just comms it out”, “Add your comms magic”, etc. I am not sure COVID-19 has changed that for good, but in my direct experience and looking at that of others, the pandemic has led to an opportunity to put high quality communications centre stage going forward.
The last six plus months have seen communications teams in NHS trusts, hospitals and many other NHS bodies take a skills led approach to public and staff communications.
My experience is that communications professionals have been able to say “no” to some of the old and odd ideas we are often faced with, rather than just “ok, I will try”. The need for urgent and credible delivery of practical solutions has allowed colleagues to get on with doing their job without fear or favour. Posters have been produced, websites have been updated and created and the “new technology” (for the NHS) of video meetings, live-streaming etc. has been brought in rapidly.
The result? We don’t know yet. At a local, operational level I am sure that, thanks to this “new technology”, internal communications has changed for good, for many. For example, last year at Alder Hey we took the revolutionary and time consuming step of organising in our hospital and community sites “town hall” meetings to brief and engage with staff. We were lucky if these had 100 people attending. During the pandemic our live broadcasts rarely fell below 200 viewers.
FIG 01. Live broadcast viewing figures
We don’t intend to hold such meetings in person again, even when we get the vaccine. We can turn on events and briefings almost instantaneously, at every locality in Alder Hey. We know people find them easy and feel they are more personal than being brought together in a large meeting room. Tuning in at your desk is just better for them. People particularly like the opportunity to (usually anonymously) ask live questions of their leaders and to get live answers.
We also used the urgent need to get information out without lengthy committee decision-making with colleagues to bring our collateral, offline and online, together under a more unified and public friendly look and feel.
Using our existing design agency we delivered items called for under a shared image set, seeking to simplify and remove jargon, rather producing the same old corporate imagery etc. Everything we did had to cut through in a time of crisis, and had to be continually refreshed. In other words, we were required to deliver communications as it should be done, not as others want it to be.
Vitally, we got daily consensus around messages. At the height of the pandemic we held daily live broadcasts for all staff. That required daily ‘start the day’ key message meetings with our CEO, medical director, chief nurse and other key people. A revolution in message sharing and control has been put in place, never to go away.
My own experience is validated anecdotally through contact with my NHS communications director colleagues. At the start of the pandemic a shared WhatsApp group was brilliantly set up by NHS Providers’ Adam Brimelow and Lisa Ward. It does appear that, whilst old frustrations remain, there is a bit more trust and head room for us all to be allowed to deliver communications as it needs to be done. We can only hope this remains the case going forward. We certainly need to fight for it.
We have a golden chance to make the case for the difference that communications teams have made. Without high quality, continuous, timely communications delivery the public and our staff colleagues would have been left confused, scared and uninformed. Locally I do not see evidence that this was so. However, the recent survey by NHS Providers and the NHS Confederation of views of communications professionals during this crisis, suggests the national picture is different.
It would be wrong to say that we need to “exploit” the last six or so months for our own ends. But, it is a fact that communications in the NHS; good, local, flexible, rapid, has been at the heart of operational excellence in the delivery of care everywhere during this pandemic.
Communications has been an enabler, bringing people together and reassuring them. Going forward, we need to consider what the new place is for communications. Can we use the evidence of the pandemic to show that we are not here to do “stuff”, but to lead and facilitate world-class messaging and engagement?
Mark Flannagan has been director of marketing and communications at Alder Hey since July 2017. Prior to this he was the chief executive of the charity Beating Bowel Cancer from 2010 to 2017. In that role he led advocacy around access to cancer medicines and took a high profile role in advocating for a new approach that involved patient experience. He is widely recognised as a highly experienced speaker, policy analyst and communicator and has connection at the highest levels in government and the UK health services.
Twitter: @MarkFlann
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/markflannagan