The Communications Team – Unsung Hero Awards

Nomination

Award Category:

Corporate Services

Individual or Team Nomination?

Team

Qualifying Qualities

In these challenging times, nominators were asked to show how the nominee had demonstrated the following qualities:

Exceptional work ethic - going above and beyond their job description, especially in the past 12 months.
Outstanding achievement/s in work or outside of the organisation where relevant.
Drive for innovation and proactive leadership in these challenging times.
High level of interpersonal skills, such as kindness, empathy, loyalty and thoughtfulness to staff and patients.
A resilience considering Covid to their role and to the health and wellbeing of their colleagues.

Nominators Answer

Nominee's story :

In March 2020, LNWH found itself at the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Trust had already been named the sixth High Consequences Infectious Diseases Centre, and the receiving organisation for Heathrow Airport. But when our local communities turned out to be the worst-affected in the country, case numbers escalated rapidly, and the Trust became the first in the country to declare a critical incident. Communications immediately formed part of the Trust’s Gold Command response, offering strategic input on decisions and allowing us to work holistically across our channels for the benefit of our patients, staff and communities. This required seven-day working, 12 hours a day for several months. During this time, two members of the communications team contracted Covid. National media coverage of the critical incident placed us in the spotlight, and the team had to act swiftly both to correct inaccurate narratives and to support staff morale. We had 346 pieces of Covid-related coverage between March 2021 and March 2022, with 89% neutral or positive. This included 34 positive pieces in national press, including The Daily and The Sunday Telegraph (5 articles), several pieces in The Times, and exclusive access for The Sun for an in-depth dispatch during the second wave, supported by a video and strongly-worded editorial. We have facilitated multiple major broadcasts in clinical areas, including BBC Six O’clock News, Sky News, Channel Four News and BBC London. In January, we provided two-day access to BBC Newsnight as part of a special feature on Covid-19. We also highlighted the work of mortuary staff (Huffington Post), physiotherapists (The Daily Telegraph) and hospital cleaners (BBC, The i), and to showcase innovations, including using mobile dialysis machines in intensive care (London Evening Standard). This has been vital in recognising our colleagues’ work, and in explaining often overlooked roles to the general public. LNWH is a complex organisation with 8500 staff working across three boroughs, four hospitals and multiple community sites. With engagement closely linked to patient safety, high quality internal communications were paramount in maintaining staff morale, explaining new guidance, and influencing behaviour as per key public health messaging. We designed a new Covid-19 bulletin, fronted by the Chief Medical Officer to highlight visible medical leadership. We issued it daily at the pandemic’s peak (including weekends), reducing its frequency at non-peak times to ensure long-term sustainability. We have issued 143 bulletins or other standalone communications related to Covid since the start of the pandemic and launched a new staff intranet. We issued our weekly e-magazine The Pulse throughout the pandemic and despite staff experiencing unprecedented work pressure during this time retained high open rates throughout 2020/21. Click rates in The Pulse reached almost 30% when we launched our Covid-19 vaccination campaign, compared with an average of 7% We attribute this success to the fact that The Pulse combines key operational information with human interest stories, helping teams feel more connected and promoting a strong feeling of community amongst our diverse workforce.