Communications and engagement strategy Northern Lincolnshire and Goole

NHS Foundation Trust

Marcus Duffield, head of communications and engagement | September 2017

2017-2018

Trust priorities The Improving Together programme is the primary driver behind this revised communications and engagement strategy. Improving Together aims to: Improve patient care, efficiency and effectiveness Transform the Trust so that it is lifted out of special measures for quality and finances Secure improved ratings during subsequent Care Quality Commission inspections. This strategy outlines how the communications team will help to deliver these changes.

Individual drivers 1. Influencing behaviour and supporting Improving Together and cultural change. 2. Improving reputation and public perception. 3. Improving staff satisfaction and morale. 4. Managing relations with external stakeholders and improving stakeholder satisfaction. 5. Supporting recruitment and retention. 6. Improving visibility of leadership.

1. Influencing behaviour and supporting Improving Together and cultural change The criteria for prioritising all communications (for the rest of 2017 and 2018, or until further notice) should be: How does this support Improving Together? Embedding Trust values and supporting organisational development and staff engagement by highlighting performance improvements, developments and innovations, Listening Into Actioin (LIA) successes, staff survey, Friends and Family Test, etc.

2. Improving reputation and public perception For the foreseeable future, many external references to the Trust will be prefixed with words like “failing” and “struggling”. We will have “plunged” into special measures after inspectors “uncovered” failings and poor performance. Negative coverage and perception will impact adversely on staff morale and satisfaction as well as recruitment and retention. This will require a long-term and sustained campaign highlighting performance improvements, examples of excellence and best practice and innovation.

3. Improving staff satisfaction and morale Key communications campaigns around Improving Together, Listening Into Action, recruitment and retention and others will help to improve staff satisfaction and morale.

4. Managing relations with external stakeholders and improving stakeholder satisfaction Regular briefings, face-to-face meetings and an open approach to all inquiries from a stable and substantive leadership is needed to reduce the impact of existing perceptions and negative coverage. Key engagement and communications campaigns around Improving Together, Listening Into Action, recruitment and retention and others will support improvement in these areas.

5. Supporting recruitment and retention. Working with HR to develop a dedicated recruitment website to attract new staff. Focusing on nursing and medical but also highlighting across-the-board opportunities.

6. Improving visibility of leadership All available channels should be used to increase the profile of executives across the Trust and beyond – staff bulletins, social media, chief exec’s blog, chief nurse’s blog/newsletter, visits to clinical areas. [[Need to consider further exposure and communication channels/tools including monthly team brief, presentations, video blogs by execs in addition to CEO and Medical Director.]]

Objectives 1. Promote Improving Together – its achievements, goals and the culture 2. Achieve accurate and balanced coverage of planned service changes over the coming months 3. Single, proactive and responsive communications and engagement service 3. Promote NLaG key messages and two-way dialogue between Trust and its stakeholders 4. Achieve balanced and accurate media coverage of NLaG activity 5. Create ambassadors (both internal and external) ready and able to promote the trust.

Principles 1. Accurate and well-informed, honest and open 2. Relevant to the audience 3. Co-ordinated and sequenced across all audiences 4. Enabling feedback wherever possible.

NLaG vision and values

All communications should support and reinforce our values – Together - We care, we respect, we deliver.

Key messages Together, we care, we respect, we deliver. These values underpin our behaviours and approach to everything we do – this is Trust-wide and at every level. From clinical staff to admin, porters and catering teams to estates and facilities, all staff should understand the part they play in delivering good care.

Key messages We are changing the way we work to become an improving Trust. We will meet the targets and milestones in our Improving Together plan. By embedding sustainable changes we aim to move out of special measures by 2018 and be rated as good for safe care by 2019, rated as outstanding for compassion by 2019 and meet priority national standards for patients receiving care promptly by 2019.

Key messages We are proud of the areas where we are already delivering high quality care and are determined to deliver improvements in all other areas. We are accountable and will engage in the difficult issues, as well as the positive, and will always say sorry where we have not reasonably met expectations.

Key messages We are open, nurturing a culture where we share and learn from best practice, actively encourage innovation and empower staff to take ownership of change and making that change happen. We recognise and value the contribution made by staff.

Key messages We are collaborative, taking a lead role in improvements across the health and social care sector – Sustainability and Transformation Partnership, System Improvement Board and other partnerships.

Key priorities and campaigns Improving Together – five areas of improvement: 1. Quality and Safety 2. Finance 3. Access and Flow 4. Service Strategy 5. Organisational Development and Culture.

Key priorities and campaigns • Service reconfiguration • Red to Green • Recruitment/retention • Staff engagement (including: LiA, Meet the Chief and CQC

focus groups) • Freedom to Speak Up Guardian’s role. • Increase visibility of senior executives • Good news – sustained output (using all available channels as

and when appropriate) of positive information, stories and information.

Branding Branding is not the badges, artwork, slogans and corporate colours we use – it is how we are perceived and what people think about us as an organisation. In this case “people” include patients (including families and carers), the public, our staff (including our charity, volunteers and membership), NHS and social care partners (STP and SIB), national and local politicians, oversight steering committees, health-related third sector and community groups.

Branding All communications need to carry branding that is consistent throughout the Trust and they must also meets the wider NHS branding guidelines. Where needed, the communications team will support teams to bring their own communications into line with both sets of branding rules.

Branding If our communication and engagement is 100% effective, individuals from any of these groups would describe NLaG staff as: Dedicated to patients and their colleagues, focussed on delivering outstanding care and services Proud of the Trust and the work they and their colleagues do, valuing everyone’s contributions and celebrating as a team

Open, honest and transparent. Inclusive, accountable and approachable Empathetic and willing to apologise when mistakes have been made or care has fallen short of expectations

Branding

Ready to listen and respond to feedback, engaging on the difficult subjects as well as the positive A leader in the local and regional health and social care system, sharing both successes and challenges.

Branding

The existing values logo (Together we care, we respect, we deliver) reflects our aspirations.

Branding

Main branding will be adapted to highlight internal communications that are specifically related to the Improving Together programme, building an awareness of the scale and breadth of work being undertaken across the Trust (and where applicable) into the wider health and social care system.

Branding

The Improving Together sub-branding should be used to highlight improvements that come about as a result of each of the projects in the five workstreams: 1. Quality and Safety 2. Finance 3. Access and Flow 4. Service Strategy 5. Organisational Development and Culture.

Branding

Improving Together material should involve staff (and patients, where possible) to increase engagement. Improvement stories should be told through all channels – intranet, website, social media, mainstream media although one early emphasis should be on posters to get the message in front of frontline staff.

Branding

Specific communication plans will be drawn up for Improving Together programme projects that rely most heavily on internal and external communications.

Branding

Using the existing all staff header (above) as a style guide, each audience will have its own colour for messages and updates. This will help to identify the urgency and type of message and its intended audience at a glance.

Key audience message branding

That is, NHS blue background for: Newsflash Staff update Team brief Message from the chief executive

Key audience message branding

NHS red/burgundy for: Clinical update Operational update

Key audience message branding

NHS green for: Message from the chair Chair’s update to governors Members update Governors update Stakeholder update Regulators (including CQC, NHSE, NHSI DoH).

Key audience message branding

Many departments have their own newsletters and others may need to issue Trust-wide messages at times (IT, for example). These should also adopt the same style and format to maintain an overall corporate feel. The communications team will review all newsletters within the next six months and advise on how these should be produced in future – subject to resources and capacity within the communications team and the departments concerned.

Internal newsletters and messaging from other departments

Audiences Internal Including volunteer, staff/union reps and non-executive directors. We will be inclusive – all sites, all levels, all professions and encourage feedback wherever possible. Governors To be informed at the same time ,or shortly after, message goes out to staff. External Media, MPs and councillors, overview and scrutiny committees, Healthwatch, health and social care partners, local authorities, health and community-based charities/support groups. Increase proactive media activity – aligning with NLaG values and Improving Together.

Tools to do the job Laying the foundations – getting the basics right first; aligning with overall vision, values and Improving Together; working alongside Improving Together, HR/recruitment and organisational development; Freedom to Speak Up Guardian; positive news output.

Tools to do the job Whatever the message/story/instruction it should be adapted to suit multiple channels and outlets, repeating and reinforcing the message. For example a round of up Listening Into Action successes appearing in the weekly team brief could be repeated on social media, added to the public website, highlighted in a media release, turned into a series of posters featuring individual members of staff and feature as part of a public board presentation.

Core staff communications • Weekly team brief – email • All staff emails • Leadership briefings • Messages to Trust board • Staff briefings (need to be

developed) • Staff magazine (Message from the

chief executive in each edition) • Medical director’s vlog • Intranet

• Public website • Dedicated recruitment/retention

site • Social media (appropriate

messages only) • Mainstream media • Comms’ email • Enquiries email • Posters • Board meetings • Grapevine – word of mouth

(useful, if accurate).

Tools to do the job

Tools to do the job Staff communications tools to support engagement All of the above, plus… Meet the chief sessions Listening into action Exec visits to clinical areas Improving Together workstreams. Other staff communications Leadership briefings – face-to-face briefings delivered on the same day at each site. (see appendix 2) Recognising and valuing staff through annual Our Stars Awards and Our Star of the Month (being launchedSeptember/October 2017.

Tools to do the job Governor and members Currently handled through membership manager Alison Hurley – comms will continue to work closely with membership team to ensure timely and accurate comms and effective engagement. Members to be informed of major developments through membership team, as appropriate. External Communications and engagement Social media Annual reports Awards Media (How we handle media inquiries - see Appendix 3) Website (main) Website (recruitment) Senior exec blogs/vlogs Senior execs on Twitter

Key challenges (first six months) Need to shift the focus away from reactive communications (often responding to external media inquiries) towards planned and co-ordinated messaging directed in the first instant towards staff and patients that highlights improvements in performance (achieved or planned) and areas of best practice. Establish/re-establish meetings between chief exec, chair and head of comms with key stakeholders – MPs, editors, oversight and scrutiny committees. Consider Trust-wide team briefings (manager level who then feed back to their own teams) or open them up to all staff to attend. Resources – a small team covering three sites at a critical time. Need for quick turnaround for key Improving Together campaigns.

Key challenges/risks Unplanned events: The need to respond to events beyond our control – media inquiries, critical and major incidents, external NHS changes, etc. These could all affect ability to deliver to planned timescales. Collaborative working: We will need to work with divisions and other teams (the recruitment website, for example) and their workloads may affect our ability to deliver to proposed timescales.

Appendix 1 - timetable

Activity By when

Conduct full review of communications resources (equipment, accommodation, expertise and outside support) and responsibilities - both within the immediate team and the trust as a whole. This will need to be done with expected increased demand on the communications team as part of the Improving Together programme and the pressure of the financial recovery plan. A further paper will follow once the Trust’s financial recovery plan is approved (October 2017) and can be incorporated into the communications plan and strategy as required. This will be brought to board before completion of head of comms’ current interim contract ends (January 2018).

Ongoing

Create and embed a communications tracker to support and co-ordinated proactive management of PR activity, awards, national awareness days, social media, etc. Plan campaigns for the next 12 months, aligned to key priorities and to support external and internal activities (such as service changes, national and local health and wellbeing and awareness activity.

September 2017

Re-engage with editors and senior media figures, MPs and local politicians Ongoing

Set tasks within the team and agree communications plans for each activity Ongoing

Review communications material produced by individual departments to ensure policies and practices are in line with the overall communications strategy and messaging.

February 2017

Engage key audiences/departments in developing communications plan. January 2017

Agree communications strategy and plan, priorities and timescales. (Develop comms plans for individual projects –within Improving Together and wider comms – winter plan, flu campaign, etc)

September 2017 and ongoing

Appendix 1 - timetable

Activity By when

Information boards – tailored to suit activity of individual wards/departments and projects (LiA, Red2 Green, etc).

September 2017

Re-engage with senior staff across NLaG to outline comms teams priorities, focus, resources and capabilities

Ongoing

Improve access to communications news and messaging for frontline/non office-based staff. Increasing use of NLaG staff app, adding staff app to hand-held devices, etc.

Ongoing

Improve access to communications news and messaging for frontline/non office-based staff. Introduce new-style leadership briefing .

September 2017

Red to Green and Safer bundle (access and flow) comms plan implementation September 2017

Introduce Leadership Community briefings with mechanism to cascade to wider staff September 2017 onwards

Meet the chief sessions (to be continued ) September 2017 onwards

LiA information and engagement August/September 2017

Appendix 1 - timetable

Activity By when

Flu jab campaign October 2017

Introducing the Project Management Office team

Sepsis training Ongoing

Our Stars annual awards November 2017

Ask Peter feedback mechanism set up and running December 2017

Introduce staff briefings in similar format to leadership briefings January 2018

Appendix 2 – leadership briefings

Leadership briefings Briefings led by chief executive and supported by senior executives delivered on a monthly basis at each site. Delivered face-to-face during sessions held as close together as possible across all three sites – e.g. Grimsby at 10am, Scunthorpe at 12.30pm and Goole at 3pm. Delivered to managers (band 8 and above) to cascade to their teams. This format could be extended to briefings open to all staff across the Trust. Agenda to include 1. Key announcements and news 2. Improving Together 3. Performance round up

Key indicators with an emphasis on operational/clinical with relevant comparison – month on month or annual improvement/decline. Suggested items for consideration: Four-hour target Referral times (18-week, emergency cancer, etc) Absence rate Vacancy rate/savings on agency locum costs Appraisal rates Financial position

4. Presentation

Likely to be a summary of achievements or a project planned as part of Improving Together but can be examples of best practice, either from within the Trust or experiences from other Trusts, etc. Presentations to board also likely to be suitable as would any award entries (if they are shortlisted/win).

5. Our Star of the month (a new feature that builds on the annual Our Stars Awards)

Monthly nominations chosen by mini panel of three directors, based on availability. Criteria for nomination should be that the individual has displayed at least one, and ideally all three, of our values – care, respect and delivery.

6. Questions and answers Questions could be general or themed, possibly with a focus on available directors who would be in attendance and could respond in greater detail.

Appendix 3 – media inquiries

Media Inquiry comes into the comms office

Comms office

Director is notified and asked for initial advice on how the Trust

should respond. Chief executive is alerted.

Comms office and

directorate

Facts and specific details are researched and confirmed and

response formulated

Director and comms office

Director signs off final response and decides if chief executive needs

to give final sign-off (Chief executive copied in)

Comms office

Approved statement is released to the media

Comms office NHSI, NHSE and SIB comms sub group

alerted to inquiries relating to wide

health performance and reputation

Comms office Local/regional health

and social care partners informed

on issues relating to wider health and care community

Comms office NHSI, NHSE and SIB comms sub group

alerted to response.

Comms office Consider need to

issue internal messaging to ensure

staff are first to know.