by Adam Shepphard
Research by its very nature takes a long time, sometimes 10-15 years to go through three clinical trial phases before it is licensed and introduced as standard patient care. COVID-19 changed the rule book, creating a unique communications challenge.
You’ll learn:
• How internal comms was prioritised at the start of the pandemic in order to keep research stakeholders up to date with fast paced changes to studies
• That crisis comms necessitates a fast sign off process if the information shared is to stay current
• The challenge of managing the ‘new normal’ of COVID-19 comms on top of a heavy-duty existing
workload
As I emerged from Hogwarts, with the taste of Butter Beer still fresh in my mouth, the world was still the same as when I’d entered.
I’d spent the afternoon at a major UK tourist attraction, at some points packed in quite closely to other visitors. It was 6 March 2020 and driving from the Warner Bros Studio Tour to our next destination we passed the Royal Berkshire Hospital, which the previous evening had reported the UK’s first COVID-19-related death. From that point my world was never the same.
My role is complex; I’m the communications lead for research and innovation at England’s biggest hospital trust. I also lead comms for two Manchester-based National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) organisations—that’s a lot of research and a lot of researchers.
(Greater) Manchester prides itself on “doing things differently” as Factory Records boss and Mancunian legend Tony Wilson once said. Our Health and Social Care devolution in 2016 allows us to address our challenges holistically, including our research and innovation infrastructure, which brings together the NHS, universities and other partners to form the “One Manchester” approach. This means communicating for my organisations as well as supporting the wider Greater Manchester response.
An immediate change in pace
Research by its very nature takes a long time, sometimes 10-15 years to go through all three clinical trial phases before it is licensed and introduced as standard patient care. I can publicise a study opening and it may be another 12 months before we can talk about the first participant recruited. COVID-19 research doesn’t follow that rulebook.
I’ve dealt with crises before, but the kind that are usually over in hours, a day, or a couple of weeks. COVID-19 was, and still is, a crisis without a clear end in sight. It immediately necessitated a complete rethink in what we were doing day-to-day: how, where and when we communicated with staff; what we could say externally; and the rapid consideration and prioritisation of the huge volume of activity coming our way.
There was no more 12 months for recruitment. Patients were recruited to trials in a matter of days and studies continued to open, and adapt, at a rapid pace. This all needed to be communicated internally and externally.
Our internal comms more than quadrupled; our monthly Managing Director blog became weekly and we created a dedicated COVID-19 research intranet section with pages for each individual study. This long-term “nice to have” goal for other studies now became an essential. Daily updates, including physical changes to research space and the latest recruitment figures were published across the whole trust. We also ran several highly successful recruitment campaigns for our staff to take part in studies.
We created dedicated COVID-19 sections on our bespoke research and innovation website and the main trust website. We wanted as much information as possible open and available for the public and the media to challenge the fake news that was already filling up social media.
Cut through and careful timing
We also had to be conscious of the noise in the system and making sure we cut through. Some of our researchers were receiving internal comms from five or six organisations. Negotiating the multitude of pressures and requests to “get some comms out”, my philosophy was short, snappy “to the point” comms, delivered at the same time, on the same day of the week, through the same channels.
If I’ve learnt one thing from crisis comms management over the last decade, it’s that whatever is getting approved is usually going to be out of date by the time it comes back. In bringing partners together from across Greater Manchester we had their approval process to navigate, our own rigorous internal approval process, and, additionally, approval from NHS England and NIHR for anything external.
How did I facilitate that process and make sure we delivered timely and accurate communications? Working day and night for months with sign offs at midnight, emails at 3am and Bank Holidays behind a laptop. This will sound very familiar to all public sector comms colleagues during the pandemic.
And it worked; staff felt informed and supported, our public made aware of how we were not only treating patients in Manchester but also helping the worldwide COVID-19 effort, and our media buy-in was fantastic. We achieved coverage from America to Australia telling some amazing stories about our researchers and our research participants. BBC coverage of an innovative PPE design brought offers of investment and mass production to that team, and for us that Holy Grail of “comms added value”, away from website visits and Twitter engagements.
Pressure from political quarters
Additional pressure and complexities during this time came from an unexpected area – the President of the United States. Once President Trump tweeted about hydroxychloroquine every media outlet in the world wanted to know about it, creating further demand for the team.
And while the nation stood at their doors applauding the NHS, pubs and restaurants opened, family and friends began to see each other to enjoy the summer months, NHS comms teams continued to check social media to see what was being said.
#covidhoax
“The pandemic is over stop milking it”
“A virus no stronger than a cold”
“See how much money keeping up this charade is worth to them”
“Peddling a dystopian narrative”
“Sharing government fear porn because you have lucrative research projects”
With this came personal attacks. At the time of writing this chapter I’ve just been called a “shameful person for distorting the truth”. While it sounds like a Malcolm Tucker Badge of Honour, I never thought a global health pandemic would be the time I was most under attack for my profession.
We’re all human and what we do is needed
Defending your role as a comms professional in the NHS is something I’m used to, not least with the annual cry of “Spend money on real doctors, not spin doctors”.
But if a patient or a family member has read one of my stories, watched one of my videos or engaged with one of my campaigns and it’s prompted a lifestyle change, a visit to a GP, or for them to take part in research which has improved or saved their life (or the lives of others), that proves comms is worth investing in.
As summer came so did the call to “get back to business”. Prior to the pandemic, my team were supporting over 800 research studies. Many of these studies reactivated, meaning we were we faced with the dual challenge of high priority, high media interest COVID-19 comms, along with supporting our other studies – equally as important to our patients and participants in improving the care and treatment for their conditions. This will be our “new normal” for the foreseeable future.
The last eight months (I’m writing this in October) have highlighted just how critical clear and effective comms are. Complaints of mixed messages ping from our screens daily. In a constantly evolving landscape, it’s an almost impossible task to get it right all of the time, but the NHS has been exemplary in doing this, at both local and national levels.
Research is now, and will continue to be, a major news topic and we have the spotlight to tell the world about the amazing work being done. I’ve never been prouder to be an NHS communicator, and of my team, my colleagues, and our NHS comms community.
Adam Shepphard has nearly a decade of NHS comms and marketing management experience and has worked across a variety of areas including commissioning, specialist and acute hospitals, and research and innovation.
He is currently the communications lead for Research and Innovation at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, the Manchester Diagnostic Technology Accelerator (DiTA), NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre, and NIHR Manchester Clinical Research Facility.
Since March 2020 he has been leading an extensive programme of work highlighting more than 30 (and growing) cutting-edge COVID-19 clinical research studies to internal, regional, national and international audiences.
Twitter: @adamshepphard
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/adam-shepphard-1419bb14/