Using real people to lead the debate, transparency and investment in skills are the three key learnings for comms practitioners as #FuturePRoof Edition Three hits the shelves.

#FuturePRoof is a labour of love for me and never more so when it comes to this special edition celebrating the NHS at 70, launched today.

Like hundreds and thousands of people across the UK, I owe the complex system that is the NHS a huge debt of thanks.

It has been a permanent fixture throughout my lifetime. It’s an organisation which is remarkable for the high level of trust we place into it and its dedicated and talented staff who have treated and cared for me, my family, friends and colleagues.

I will always be grateful for the NHS.

So this book, The NHS at 70 with Lessons for the Wider PR Community, is dedicated to all the hardworking communications professionals whose excellent work often goes unrecognised and unsung.

Within this special edition, 25 new essays explore key themes including the role of comms in achieving organisational outcomes; how organisations can secure and maintain trust; planning and data; digital-first strategies; how to address barriers to technological innovation; and the role of practitioners in managing major change.

As you’d expect it is jam-packed with expertise from a forward-thinking cohort of comms leaders and advisers, striving to reinforce the strategic value of public relations within their organisations.

I'm very grateful to each and every contributor for sharing their time and expertise.

There are some very clear take outs and perhaps the biggest lesson for management teams, communicators and the wider public relations community is to embrace transparency, invest in skills and use real people to lead the debate.

The book comes at a critical point in the NHS’s history. The organisation is a living breathing case study of comms innovation as it manages competing political agendas and stretched budgets, while communicating ever more frequently with an increasing number of people with complex needs.

How its many teams join forces to implement one approach at scale is a pressing challenge as the face of healthcare as we know it changes radically.

You can get your hard copy or Kindle version of #FuturePRoof here.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed curating and editing it. And if you'd like to get involved, please do follow @weareproofed on Twitter and join the Facebook group. The more, the merrier!

All the best,

Sarah Hall
Founder and editor, #FuturePRoof