Thursday, November 6, 2014 'simple. they communicate so doctors can do their day job better...'
Of course, for the most part, the traffic on the @comms2point0 Twitter is shared knowledge. But when one person on Twitter called out the whole of the NHS comms profession there was a different reaction. Here's a few of the responses.
by Dan Slee
So, why bother with NHS comms people at all? That was the bold question posed by one private sector surgeon late night on Twitter.
What was fascinating was to read the speed and number of responses from people in and around the health comms profession. People feel passionate about the jobs they do and their purpose.
Here's a few responses.
Fundamentally, comms people help organisations communicate better so the right people use the right services at the right time. Simple. They communicate so doctors can do their day job better. So clinicians can do their job rather than try and draw-up posters and create websites.
Point people towards this short unscientific list if people still wonder outloud why the NHS has communications and PR people.
@CrayonWW @NHScommsorg @comms2point0 Can you point me to some evidence? Can see importance of PR etc. in pvt sector but in NHS???
— theveindoc (@theveindoc) November 6, 2014
@NHScommsorg @CrayonWW @comms2point0 Does that require a specialised dept? Cant we just expect other depts to communicate with patients?
— theveindoc (@theveindoc) November 6, 2014
@theveindoc @NHScommsorg @comms2point0 Comms doesn't matter when NHS has endless resources and no need to answer to patients and taxpayers
— Julian Patterson (@jtweeterson) November 6, 2014
@MrJonesTalks @comms2point0 why would one of the biggest organisations in the world not have comms people?
— Tiffany Jones (@Tiffanyemma) November 6, 2014
@theveindoc @CrayonWW @NHScommsorg @comms2point0 if my promotion of anything saves or enhances 1 life then yes, I think my job is justified
— Adam Shepphard (@getdownshep) November 6, 2014
@jongudmund it's an old tired point by now, but nhs comms shd be there to help nhs ppl communicate better @comms2point0 @MrJonesTalks
— Jon Beech (@_jonb) November 6, 2014
@theveindoc @comms2point0 @NHScommsorg comms,finance,HR & other corporate functions frees up clinicians time to do what they do best.
— Carrie-Ann Wade (@CrayonWW) November 6, 2014
@theveindoc @CrayonWW @NHScommsorg @comms2point0 if every news story on the NHS was honest & benefitted patients I may not be as required
— Adam Shepphard (@getdownshep) November 6, 2014
@comms2point0 @CrayonWW @NHScommsorg Of course but thats my point the NHS is hardly crying out for customers!
— theveindoc (@theveindoc) November 6, 2014
Can anyone point @theveindoc at some evidence that #comms is important in the NHS? @CrayonWW @NHScommsorg #nhssm #pr
— @comms2point0 (@comms2point0) November 6, 2014
@jongudmund all of which are core business for all nhs types. don;t delegate this stuff. #totalnhs @comms2point0
— Jon Beech (@_jonb) November 6, 2014
Dan Slee is co-founder of comms2point0
Reader Comments (3)
Timely post, Dan! This shows both how important doing comms professionally is for the NHS - and how misunderstood it remains by some health professionals , and by some parts of the NHS itself.
The essential confusion is between 'communication' as a corporate function, with its own standards and body of professionals; and 'communication' as a process, which of course every health professional (or human being, for that matter) should aim to do skilfully if they want to be understood. The latter is everyone's business; the former needs defining and supporting as a profession and core function on an organisational level - ie, by specialists who know their stuff. A bit like surrgery, in fact.
Trite comments like 'we don't need prs to tell our patients or us how to communicate' from people who frankly should already know better miss the point entirely - AND add to the already mounting pressures on NHS prs. Nearly all of whom, my research showed, had to earn every ounce of professional trust - and don't believe it is supported by the NHS even now. Yet Mid Staffs called for more 'openness' in communications as an essential. How can any organisation even begin to be taken seriously on that unless the very people who are its voice - the NHS prs - are treated as professionals?
It's easy to see how this view of NHS comms as a 'waste' persists - it is relatively new as a function in the NHS, and still widely misunderstood. Yet the imperative to reinforce it and recognise its true value has never been greater; or more threatened.
Alan Taman (former NHS pr, now researcher/campaigner)
I imagine the surgeon spends very busy days surrounded by the same set of people, and perhaps socialises with people of s similar type. If he is really curious about this, perhaps his comms team might invite him to spend time with them to see what they deal with and what they plan, manage and proactively do. He would perhaps find himself surrounded by a different sort of person, and may still not be able to see past the end of his nose, but the opportunity would be there for him to open his mind and learn and make all sorts of new connections which aren't afforded to him in the silo world he works in.
Silo structure and thinking permeates the NHS, that's true. It can serve to reinforce best practice within a specialism - but also serve to heighten existing difficulties and misperceptions between them. The key to overcoming this is, ironically, good communications. Which is best achieved by the only specialism devoted to delivering it: Comms. Seeing Comms people as professionals is often a barrier to that - so getting to know them is the best way of doing that, yes.
Unfortunately many NHS PRs find this a struggle and have to fight the very prejudice that serves to reinforce the bad practice they can see, but are not readily credited with the ability to stop: a self-defining and self-reinforcing cycle that makes the NHS all the worse for it, and for all. Comms people matter.
Alan