Agenda item

Berkshire West - Winter Communications Plan

To receive a presentation on the Berkshire West – Winter Communications Plan.

Minutes:

Niall Norbury, Campaigns and Marketing Manager, Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust provided an update on the Berkshire West Winter Communication Plan.  The presentation focused on what had been delivered in the campaign.

 

During the discussion of this item, the following points were made:

 

·        When developing the Plan, a huge variety of groups had been consulted including different departments within the Trust, Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, South Central Ambulance Service, the Berkshire West Healthwatches, Pharmacy Thames Valley and the local authorities. 

·        The Plan had 3 key messages:

Ø  Be prepared – reducing unnecessary pressure on the health system. The message focused on ensuring that people had stocked up medicine cabinets, were able to have conversations regarding mental health so that they did not become too isolated, and caring for vulnerable friends and family.

Ø  Choose the right service – ensuring that people knew which service to contact, making proper use of NHS 111, understanding the difference between urgent and emergency.

Ø  See your GP differently – decreasing some public dissatisfaction around changes in primary care, particularly by highlighting the different roles that existed.  Also, highlighting the benefits of alternatives to face to face appointments.

·        Niall Norbury outlined what the campaign had delivered.

·        A website had been built within the current Trust’s website which contained a lot of resources such as what you should have stocked in your medicine cabinet, and how to refer yourself to Talking Therapies, different roles in the GP surgeries, and where the Minor Injury Units were located.

·        Bus campaign – this had been the first time that this had been run.  The campaign was run in conjunction with Reading Buses, on 30 buses covering across Wokingham, West Berkshire, and Reading.  This was particularly effective in reaching those who may not be reached via other means.

·        Printed materials – Banners and leaflets across the sites and GP practices.

·        Digital graphics – for use across social media, email signatures, website banners, digital screens, and other locations.  Over 30 different graphics had been produced.

·        Videos – 15 different videos on various topics.

·        Social media – Content had been added to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, NextDoor and Tik Tok.  NextDoor had not been used before and had proved a good way of reaching the community.  Paid campaigns had also been run ahead of Christmas to encourage prescription refilling.

·        Events – a number of public facing events had been run including a live online Q&A targeted at Wokingham parents on managing common childhood illnesses.  This had been very successful.

·        Press and media – Coverage in Berkshire Live, Reading Chronicle, Wokingham Today and BBC Radio Berkshire.  Not as much coverage as had been hoped for had been secured.

·        Partner communications – working closely with the Communications Teams from partners such as the local authorities, PCN’s, CCG and Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, to cascade key messages.

·        A lot of data was still being collated.  Focus Groups would be held next week to delve more into the information. 

·        Social media was easier to measure as an instrument of success.  Initial findings suggested that Facebook in particular had been a good way of communicating with residents, receiving 169,282 impressions directly tied to the campaign.  Twitter and NextDoor had also performed well.  Instagram had performed less well, but the Trust was still growing its following on this platform.

·        A survey had been conducted to gather qualitive feedback.  People were asked if they recognised where imagery from the campaigns came from and where they had seen it, to gauge how familiar people were with the campaign.  35% had indicated that they were familiar with the imagery.  This information would be used in future to see how information could best be delivered effectively.

·        Areas which had been particularly successful had been those of very small focus such as encouraging people to sort out their repeat prescriptions prior to Christmas.  These areas were where people could quickly take action, which lead to quick wins.  It was harder to gauge the impact of areas of the campaign such as encouraging the current use of NHS 111 and knowing the difference between urgent and emergency.  It was likely that this would become a year-round campaign and that future winter campaigns would focus on quick actions that people could take in winter time.

·        A Member asked how successes would be measured.  Niall Norbury commented that the data was still being collected but that one of the measures would be looking at the engagement that the Trust had had.  For example, many of the social media impressions were directly tied to the pharmacy campaign.  Work would be undertaken with the Pharmacy teams to establish whether they had experienced an increase in usage during the correlating time period.

·        A Member questioned whether social media could be used more in other campaigns such as encouraging take up of the flu jab.  Niall Norbury commented that this campaign had been an opportunity to see what did and did not work well.  Social media had worked well and was a creative way of getting various messages out.  There would be a campaign about cancer referrals soon.

·        In response to a Member question about how areas of the campaign that had been perceived as being less successful would be taken forwards, Niall Norbury commented that residents would be more involved in the process, checking the campaign materials prior to delivery.

·        A Member questioned why press coverage had been less successful.  Niall Norbury commented that the media wanted to know why the issue was newsworthy at that point in time.  The few areas where the Trust had received coverage was when it had had something to announce or something big to push, such as abuse of staff, which had tied in with a national campaign.  More work would need to be undertaken on making stories appear more newsworthy and tie in with the national picture.

·        Niall Norbury emphasised that the core message was ensuring that people were winter ready.

·        A Member asked whether the campaign had been particularly successful in specific geographic areas as opposed to others.  Niall Norbury indicated that he could provide data relating to the paid campaigns.

·        Members asked how those who were less tech savvy would be targeted.  Niall Norbury commented that leaflets had been given out as people had accessed services.  This was an area that the Trust could build on in future, using staff and stakeholders more as communication tools.  The Trust would also broaden out the partners that it had worked with, communicating more with community groups

·        Nicky Lloyd, Chief Finance Officer, Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, added that the Trust was keen to work with the Council and its contacts.  The Trust had also reached out through faith leaders particularly during the vaccination campaign.  In addition, it had been working with Access Able which was making sure that it was possible to navigate the Trust’s services for different groups such as those with autism or who were sight impaired.  They had fed back the need to continue to use traditional communication channels.

·        A Member queried whether there could be a single interface across the whole of Berkshire West, Oxfordshire, and Buckinghamshire.   They went on to ask whether greater use could be made of AI replacing competitive components, particularly with regards to NHS 111.  Niall Norbury commented that making websites as simple as possible to access was important.  The Trust had carried out work the previous year to overhaul its website so as to make it more user friendly.  For example, if you entered the term ‘heart’ it would bring up cardiology.

·        A Member questioned whether the Trust had reached out to schools, Food banks and organisations such as First Days.  Niall Norbury stated that they had not for this campaign, but that he felt that schools in particular were an area where the Trust could be more involved. 

·        The Committee asked what Councillors could do to help promote messages.  Niall Norbury stated that it was important that organisations were providing the same message.  Sarah Philip, Lead Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, emphasised that it was important to reinforce the message that the Covid vaccine was safe for pregnant women and their babies, as there had been a lot of misinformation available around this.  Uptake had massively increased.

·        In response to a Member question regarding feedback from GP practices on the success or otherwise of the Winter Ready campaign, Niall Norbury indicated that feedback had been received from some practices.  What had been considered successful was the highlighting of the different roles within the GP practices.

·        The Trust had not yet been able to deliver the publishing waiting times online project.

 

RESOLVED:  That

 

1)     The update on the Berkshire West Winter Plan be noted;

 

2)     Niall Norbury be thanked for his presentation.

Supporting documents: