The Only National Awards For Non-Medical / Non-Clinical NHS Staff & Volunteers

Nomination

Award Category:

Individual or Team Nomination?

Individual

Nominators Answer

Nominee's story :

The Communications & Marketing Team at Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust (WCHC) delivers a diverse range of internal and external communications that aim to support staff in their role and to maximise the visibility and impact of WCHC as an integrated provider of community health and care services. The wellbeing of our workforce is paramount, and the work of the communications and marketing team throughout the year has been a driving force behind ensuring staff are informed, are recognised, feel valued and safe in their role. The team keeps staff informed through an integrated mix of channels including a bi-weekly bulletin, staff Facebook group, screensavers and team briefings. They provide an outstanding and responsive service to teams, supporting them to cascade key message to staff including, Freedom to Speak Up, Staff Flu campaign, Inclusion and our Staff Networks and the NHS Staff Survey. This year the Trust achieved its highest ever response rate for the NHS Staff Survey and engagement levels have steadily increased through the promotion of the quarterly Pulse Surveys. For the last 10 years the team has delivered the annual staff awards, an annual celebration of the work of the Trust. Staff and services are fully engaged with this event and in 2023, the highest ever number of nominations was received. These awards are underpinned by an annual programme of recognition activities including, the weekly Shout Out (over 650 received this year from colleagues wanted to recognise each other), the monthly Stand Out, ‘Journey of Care’ patient and staff story presented to Trust Board and ‘Spotlight on Services’ presented at the monthly all staff briefing – The Get Together. This programme of recognition is led by the communications and marketing team and ensures that individuals and teams are recognised and thanked for their contribution throughout the whole year. The team is equally focused on raising the profile of community health and care services externally, ensuring that the public and stakeholders are informed of the innovations, high performance and the positive impact the Trust has in communities across Wirral, Cheshire, Knowsley, St Helens and soon to include Lancashire. Community services are at the heart of a sustainable NHS and the communications and marketing team work hard to share the amazing stories and work of the Trust. Through the Trust’s website, social media channels, direct mail and a bi-monthly stakeholder update the team cascades news and stories that amplify the Trust’s role as an anchor institution and the social value it delivers within communities. An example of this was the opening of the new Marine Lake Health and Wellbeing Centre in West Kirby and the range of community engagement and partnership working that took place in making this a flagship development for the Trust. The team has excellent relationships with regional and national communications teams ensuring the voice of the Trust is heard at a national level. The work of Communications & Marketing Team is diverse and they deliver with professionalism, energy and creativity. They are responsive to the needs of the organisation and are highly valued as a non-clinical team at WCHC.