Agenda Item 9.

CENTRAL MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS

FOUNDATION TRUST

Report of:

Executive Director of Human & Corporate Resources

Margot Johnson

Paper prepared by:

Associate Director of Strategic Communications

Karen Doyle

Date of paper:

December 2014

Subject:

Central Manchester University Hospitals Communications

Strategy 2015 - 2017
Indicate which by

Information to note

Purpose of Report:

Support

Resolution
Approval

Consideration of Risk
against Key Priorities

The Communications Strategy aims to support the delivery of

the organisations key strategic priorities. All key deliverables
will be risk assessed and a quality impact assessment
undertaken using the usual risk management scoring system.
These will be signed off by the Executive Director of Human &
Corporate Resources.

Recommendations

The Board of Directors is asked to approve the proposed

strategy and key deliverables.

Contact

Name: Karen Doyle (Assoc. Director of Strategic Communications)

Tel:
0161 276 4841

Central Manchester University Hospitals Communications Strategy

2015- 2017

This Communications Strategy will continue to evolve to reflect the changing nature of the
Trust. As the strategy is implemented, new priorities will become clear and the strategy will
be updated as required.
1. Introduction
Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CMFT) is the leading
provider of tertiary and specialist healthcare in Manchester and treats more than 1 million
patients a year.
CMFT currently runs eights hospitals in Manchester and Trafford, as well as specialist
services to patients from Greater Manchester, the North-West and further afield. Within the
catchment area there are areas of great affluence alongside areas of great deprivation,
which affects communication needs and approaches. Over half the population are under 30
years old and almost half (47%) are from black and minority ethnic groups; these two facts
alone highlight the Trust as an organisation which should be focusing more on digital
communications and ensuring information is easily accessible for hard to reach groups.
The healthcare landscape is also changing markedly. As a Foundation Trust, CMFT is
operating in an increasingly competitive climate as patients have more choice and
Governors and other stakeholders (including members) play an influential role in the
priorities of the Trust.
To maintain its leading position, the Trust has an ambitious vision for the next five years,
which is:
To be recognised internationally as leading healthcare;
excelling in quality, safety, patient experience, research,
innovation and teaching; dedicated to improving health
and wellbeing for our diverse population.
There are seven aims that underpin the delivery of the Trusts vision:
1. Improve the safety and clinical quality of our services
2. Improve the experience for patients, carers and their families
3. Develop our specialist services and, in collaboration with our health and social care
partners, lead on the development and implementation of co-ordinated care
4. Increase the quality and quantity of research and innovation across the organisation
to improve patient health and wellbeing
5. Provide high quality education and training
6. Develop our organisation, support the wellbeing of our workforce and enable each
member of our staff to reach their full potential
7. Remain financially stable and generate a surplus to invest in our services

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This is against a backdrop of increasing costs and greater financial pressures. Therefore,
supporting these aims are six values that recognise the crucial role people play in helping
the Trust to achieve its vision:

Pride: I will show pride by being the best in everything that I do

Respect: I will show regard for the feelings, rights and views of others

Empathy: I will show empathy by understanding the emotions, feelings and views of
others

Consideration: I will show thoughtfulness and regard for others, showing

consideration for their feelings and circumstances

Compassion: I will show understanding, concern and contribute to providing a safe,

secure and caring environment for everyone

Dignity: I will show respect and value all individuals and their diverse needs

These values run through everything that the Trust does and acts as a guide for how staff
should behave towards one another and towards patients and their families.
Since becoming a Foundation Trust in 2009, CMFT has expanded and taken on a number of
different services, such as acquiring Trafford Hospital, or, running services within the
community setting. The past five years has also seen the completion of a leading-edge
hospital campus, which brings together on one site:
-

Royal Manchester Childrens Hospital

University Dental Hospital of Manchester
Manchester Royal Eye Hospital
Manchester Royal Infirmary
Saint Marys Hospital

This creates its own set of challenges as staff often dont feel that they belong to CMFT,
but, they do feel a great affiliation to the particular hospital they work in. There is a great
need to capitalise on this passion by creating an identity for each hospital that staff and
patients can feel proud of. The advantages of being part of a large Foundation Trust can be
used when referring to benefits such as career progression, financial stability or sharing best
practice.
It is vital that CMFT is clear when the individual hospital brand should be the focus and when
CMFT as a Foundation Trust is the lead. Not only will this give clarity of message for our
stakeholders, but, it is proven that staff who feel more engaged with work will perform better;
which in this case will ultimately lead to better patient care. The Communications and
Organisational Development team must work closely together to deliver this change.
However, it is everyones responsibility to ensure communication and engagement is
delivered and that the values are adopted in the Trusts daily work. Communication is more
than an exchange of information it involves a two way partnership and is as much about
attitudes and behaviours as it is about delivering messages.

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2.

Communication Strategy

The absence of a clear communications strategy for the organisation in recent years has
resulted in communications being reactive, internal and external communications channels
not fit for purpose and a lack of clarity around the brand.
In order to achieve its vision the Trust needs to effectively communicate and engage with all
its stakeholders to ensure it is ready for the challenging times that lie ahead.
Therefore the vision of the communications team is to:

Engage everyone in all that we do

The communications team is the central point of contact for a variety of different
stakeholders, both internal (e.g. nurses and consultants), and external (e.g. politicians and
journalists). It is vital that the Communications Team is considered best in class with
everyone it engages with and becomes the go to team for any communications support.
However, CMFT needs a step change in how it approaches and delivers communication and
engagement activities over the next five years. It needs to move from an inform and direct
culture to one of empowerment and involvement. Supporting the CMFT Organisational
Development Team to deliver the programme of cultural change is also a key component to
successfully delivering the Communications Strategy.
This is supported by a recent study conducted by The Department of Health, which looked at
how communication is used to support the development of high-performing organisations. It
highlighted that better-performing Trusts committed more resources to communication, were
more likely to have marketing strategies in place and had communications teams that were
more influential. It went on to identify four attributes that contribute to what good looks like
in terms of communications internally:

An excellent understanding of the brand

Excellence in planning, managing and evaluating communications
Leadership support for communication
Communication as a core competency

The Communications Strategy for CMFT identifies three key areas it needs to focus on to
become a high-performing organisation.
(i).

Build Communications team capability

All roles in the Communications Team are aligned to a division (hospital) rather than
a communication specialism, which has created a silo mentality amongst the team
and resulted in the Trusts communication channels being neglected. There is also
no opportunity for career progression, which means the Trust will potentially lose
talent and create a demotivated workforce. A new structure will provide trusted
advisors at the right level of seniority to face into the organisation to develop
strategic plans with divisional and corporate directors and prioritise support.
Specialist communication roles will also be created to drive forward improvements in
communication channels and ensure the team is able to support the ever more
complex and demanding requirements of our stakeholders. Development plans will
be agreed to ensure the team is performing at its optimum level.

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(ii).

Develop CMFT and Hospital brands

There are significant inconsistencies in how the brand is adopted within the
organisation and a lack of central control. CMFT is an established Foundation Trust
and the focus needs to be on developing the various hospital brands that resonate
with staff and patients alike. A brand hierarchy needs to be developed that shows
when CMFT should be promoted and when it should be an individual hospital. In
addition, there are a number of pieces of work that are being developed in silos
across the organisation (for example the roll-out of Values and Behaviours, the rebranding of RMCH) and these need to come together to strengthen CMFT and
provide clarity for our audiences.
(iii).

Review effectiveness of communication channels

There is currently no measurement of the effectiveness of our internal or external

communication channels, which means there is a lack of understanding of the users
and their requirements. Channels need to be developed that are relevant and the
purpose of each is clear. Each channel needs to be easily accessible to its target
group or groups, to afford them the opportunity to feedback and interact with the
Trust. This will contribute to staff, patients, members and the public feeling involved
and engaged and will ensure consistency of message.

Running through all of this is a constant focus on proactively promoting the Trust with local
and national media and building relationships with our key partners.
3. Implementation Plan
Outlined below are the key deliverables:
Deliverable 1: Build Communications Team Capability
Goals

Re-structure the team so it is aligned by communications specialism to better support

the organisations needs
Ensure there is career progression within the team to help retain talent by creating
more senior roles
Design and implement a development plan for the communications team to ensure
they are working towards becoming trusted advisors.
Develop an External Communications Specialist post to focus on relationships with
key media and stakeholders to better understand requirements

Deliverable 2: Develop CMFT and Hospital brands

Goals

Develop the CMFT group brand and that of each Hospital, through focus groups
with patients, staff and other stakeholders
Produce a clear brand hierarchy and guidelines so people understand when to rely
on the hospital brand and when to rely on the group brand.
Develop key messages for CMFT and each hospital to ensure consistency
Develop a PR strategy that proactively promotes the work of the Trust to increase the
number of positive news stories, for example promoting particular awards that CMFT
and its staff have won
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Deliverable 3: Review Effectiveness of CMFTs Communications Channels

Goals

Redevelop the Trusts website to align with the outcome of the branding work and
build the identities of individual hospitals in response to stakeholder requirements
Improve patient information and accessibility not only to the website but also via
other forms of communications, such as patient information leaflets
Create a central repository of patient information leaflets and make them more
accessible.
Improve the Trusts digital offering, such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs to provide
timely information that is open to feedback to encourage involvement and
engagement from a broad range of stakeholders. Consider the use of digital
channels, which are also a primary way to target hard-to-reach groups.
Survey stakeholders to understand their communication requirements to inform
improvements
Develop a channels matrix that outlines the key channels, purpose and audience so
messaging can be targeted
Introduce measurement for all channels, where possible, in order to make informed
decisions on improvements required (e.g. type, frequency and tone of voice) along
with demonstrating effectiveness.
Build an entirely new intranet site so it can function as an effective communications
channel and information portal, saving time for staff and engaging them in the Trust.

4. Monitoring, Evaluation and Review

The Board will review progress twice yearly with more frequent reporting through the Trust
Management Board.
5. Governance
It is essential that proper governance is in place to ensure delivery of the Communications
Strategy. Executive Director responsibility rests with the Director of Human and Corporate
Resources.
6. Next Steps
The immediate next steps are:
By February 2015 A detailed implementation plan will be drawn up that indicates the key
communications activities, budget and resources allocated to delivering the strategy. The
plan will also include proposed timescales and identify particular milestones to ensure there
are clear steps towards ultimate goals.
As staff engagement is critical in this role, the communications plan will also closely align
with the OD (inc. Values & Behaviours) and Transformation strategies in order to strengthen
organisational plans by working together.
Members and Governors are also key stakeholders (and audience) therefore the CMFT
Communications Team needs to work closely with the Chairman, Trust Board Secretary and
Membership Manager to ensure connectivity with members and governors, and that
channels are relevant and messages aligned.
By July 2015 first six-monthly update to the Board on progress.
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7. Recommendations
The Board of Directors is asked to approve the CMFT Communications Strategy 2015-2017
and note:

- the alignment with other key CMFT strategies including the OD & Transformation strategies
- the completion of a detailed Implementation Plan by February 2015
- that the Board will receive a six-monthly report on progress

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