Social media in the NHS - presentation to NHS East Midlands Leadership Academy

Social Media in the NHS

Opportunities and Pitfalls

Joe McCrea Managing Director J B McCrea Ltd

@jbmccrea

National context and future challenges

National context and future challenges• Becoming clear that implementation of 5YFV will impact on every NHS and social care

provider.

• Simon Stevens has emphasised that radical change is both required and expected, a view reinforced by the new 2015-16 NHS England Business Plan

• History is littered with examples of “local reconfiguration’ going awry when it comes to getting on board local patients, carers, service users, stakeholders and decision-makers.

• Often, plans have had to be significantly altered or abandoned altogether in the face of local political or sectional opposition.

• These “little local difficulties” may have been difficult enough. But they are a walk in the park compared with the wholesale radical change required over the next five years.

• This implementation challenge requires radical change and transformation in the way health and care economies listen, engage and communicate.

• If integrated properly with listening and engagement, social media can play a huge role in rising to this challenge.

When to engage?• As early as possible when strategies are being formulated

• When service change is envisaged - (e.g. new care model, new patterns of provision)

• When change in attitudes or behaviours is required from users - (using local services more intelligently, not turning up to A&E, getting a flu vaccination at the pharmacists)

Opportunities

The change challengeWhat would persuade you to support changes in your local NHS services?

Source: NHS Confederation survey - Autumn 2014

The change challengeWhich, if any of the following roles, do you think MPs should play in future changes to the NHS?


The change challengeIf your local NHS needs to change how it provides care, how do you want to be involved in this process? ?


The change challengeIf your local NHS needs to change how it provides care, how do you want to be involved in this process? ?


The change challengeYou said there were changes to your local NHS service within the last 5 years you strongly supported/opposed. Did you undertake any of the following forms of action to express your views?


The change challengeYou said there were changes to your local NHS service within the last 5 years you strongly supported/opposed. Did you undertake any of the following forms of action to express your views?


Keep it local and social…Your

traditional comms and engagement

channels

Your own Social Media

Interaction with others’ Social Media

Local patient groups

Local candidates

Local and NHS Trade

Media

National News and Political Media

Benefit from and tend to prefer

smooth, positive engagement

Have a vested interest in

maintaining a positive local relationship

You have editorial control of what is said in your name

Can be deployed by you instantly and

cheaply

You have instant public or private

response or right of reply

So what does that tell us of the opportunity?

• Local people want to be involved in informed debate about their NHS and are open to argument and persuasion about the case for change

• They trust information from their local NHS and its staff more than they trust the views of their local MPs and candidates

• They want their local politicians to be seen to play a positive part in change if the arguments from the NHS stack up

So what does that tell us of the opportunity?

• Local people value engagement from the NHS via consultations, surveys, staff views and social media more than one-to-one conversations on health matters with their local MPs and candidates

• By combining social media with surveys, consultations and open dialogue with local patient groups - the NHS can better meet the preferences of the majority of local people than with traditional public meetings

• Social Media is - compared with other communication channels - cost-effective, instant, flexible and in your control

Pitfalls

The visibility trap…• Just because YOU see your

tweets, it doesn’t mean that the world does

• The ONLY people who see your tweets are those who follow you OR their followers - and only if they choose to mention, favourite or retweet you

• Finding and securing the right followers and engaging their interest is crucial

The isolation trap…• If you’re not careful Social Media

can become simply an end in itself - isolated from the real needs and pressures of your organisation

• This runs the danger that it fails to deliver for the Board and loses support

• It is crucial that you integrate your social media with Improvement, Listening and Engagement strategies

Social Media Improvement

Listening Engagement

• TO SUPPORT AND DEVELOP OUR STAFF

• TO PROMOTE COMPASSION AND CARE

• TO LISTEN AND RESPOND TO YOUR FEEDBACK

• TO ENSURE SAFETY FOR PATIENCES

WHY WE ARELISTENING

• TO PURSUE EXCELLENCE

• TO PERFORM BRILLIANTLY

• TO DELIVER QUALITY

• TO WORK IN PARTNERSHIP

The isolation trap…• If you’re not careful Social Media

can become simply an end in itself - isolated from the real needs and pressures of your organisation

• This runs the danger that it fails to deliver for the Board and loses support

• It is crucial that you integrate your social media with Improvement, Listening and Engagement strategies

• That will make you AND your bosses SMILE!

SMILE

How is the NHS doing with the visibility trap?

© jbmccrea

We now know for the first time…

It’s caught the imagination…

© jbmccrea

Source: J B McCrea Ltd “Find SoMeone in Health” Data store

• There are estimated 15 million UK Twitter followers

• We identified the 238,927 accounts with the strongest interest in the NHS

• We ranked the 4,528 of these who follow @theKingsFund and @hsjnews and @NHSEngland and @CareQuality Comm and @nhsconfed

• That’s less than 5,000 out of 15 million -the crucial 0.003%

The strongest National Followers


In the top spot was the comms team for @MINDCharity .

There were some amongst the top 50 of this group that could readily have been predicted, for example:• @NHSLeadership• @MidwivesRCM• @ProfSteveField• @profchrisham• @rcgp

But there were also some surprises and some less well known stealth revolutionaries in the top 50, for example:• @claireOT - occupational therapist• @sagefemmeSB - midwife• @CombatStress - veterans mental

health charity• @pauljebb1 - asst director of nursing• @BobHudson - public policy academic

The strongest National Followers


In the top spot was @nurse_w_glasses

Second was…@claireOT and number 9 was @DrUmeshPrabhu!

There were some amongst the top 50 of this group that could readily have been predicted, for example:• @WeMidwives• @drphilhammond• @curetheNHS• @JaneCummings

But there were also some surprises and some less well known stealth revolutionaries in the top 50, for example:• @nursemaiden - Recovery Nurse

whose wonderful dad died of Alzheimer's in 2012

• @Trisha_the_Doc• @JennytheM - midwife

The ‘Boat Rockers’


We analysed all of the Twitter accounts used by NHS Organisations and ranked them using a combination of their numbers of followers and numbers of tweets.

In the top spot is Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust - @GreatOrmondSt

4 of the top 10 are Ambulance Trusts

There is a wide mix of types of NHS organisation, including NHS Foundation Trusts, NHS Trusts, Community Healthcare Trusts, Ambulance Trusts, CCGs and national organisations.

The NHS Top 50 Twitteratti


NHS England, but not NHS Citizen or Healthwatch EnglandNHS England and Healthwatch but not NHS CitizenNHS Citizen, NHS England and Healthwatch EnglandNHS Citizen and Healthwatch England, but not NHS EnglandNHS Citizen and NHS England but not Healthwatch EnglandNHS Citizen, but not NHS England or Healthwatch England

31,211 82.02%2,285 6.00%

362 0.95%215 0.56%474 1.25%892 2.34%

There are 38,054 Twitter accounts who follow NHS England, Healthwatch England or NHS Citizen

8 out of 10 NHS England Twitter followers follow neither Healthwatch England nor NHS CitizenThere are 892 Twitter accounts who follow NHS Citizen, but not Healthwatch England or NHS England There are 1,366 Twitter accounts who follow NHS Citizen but not Healthwatch England Less than 1% follow NHS England, NHS Citizen AND Healthwatch England

NHS Citizen


Never the twain? - Local Healthwatch and national NHS accounts

60,000 people follow a local Healthwatch Twitter account

75% of people who follow a local Healthwatch Twitter account DO NOT follow ANY of:

@NHS England, @dhgovuk, @CareQualityCommission, @HealthwatchE OR @NHSCitizen

Follows local Healthwatch but no national NHS accountFollows local Healthwatch and at least one national NHS account=


Never the twain? - Local Healthwatch and their local NHS Trust

On average, less than 5% of people follow BOTH their local Trust AND their local Healthwatch

On average, 81% of local Healthwatch followers do not follow their local Trust

On average, 94% of local Trust followers do not follow their local Healthwatch

Follows the organisation but not its HealthwatchFollows both the organisation and its HealthwatchFollows the organisation's Healthwatch but not the organisation itself


How is the NHS doing with the isolation trap?

Social Media Capability Assessment• assesses how well social media is

embedded and integrated with wider organisation, strategies and processes

• assesses current social media capability across four Dimensions:

✴ Channels and Communities ✴ Content ✴ Leadership and Policy ✴ Organisation and Culture

• Five indicators for each dimension built upon an objective description of an organisation at increasing levels of capability

• overall Organisational Maturity Assessment based on 100 possible scores

NHS SoMe is still at a state of low maturityWe have carried out and analysed Social Media Capability Assessments completed by over 400 individuals working at all levels over more than 30 NHS organisations

NHS SoMe is still at a state of low maturity

It is at a reasonable state in:

• the degree to which it is beginning to use social media beyond mere ‘Broadcasting’ activities;

• the degree to which it reviews its content;

• the degree to which Boards and the wider organisation are beginning to get engaged.

NHS SoMe is still at a state of low maturity

But it is no more than adequate in:

• its involvement in others’ channels and communities;• its understanding of the views of its stakeholders;• the degree to which social media is integrated with Improvement, Listening and Engagement;• the degree to which social media is consciously and actively planned.

But the opportunity is achievable and rapid improvement is possible…

Investment of time in SoMe works!

Twitter impressionsYouTube views

18,000 Twitter August

344,400 Twitter Impressions September to

mid November

Over 4,000 YouTube views in 3 months

Aug - Nov 2014

Compared with total of 1,789 views over 2 year period Aug

2012-2014

So Me

Where it was in April 2013

So Me

A year later…

Joe McCrea Managing Director J B McCrea Ltd

@jbmccrea www.jbmccrea.com

Good luck and don’t forget to enjoy the challenge!

Government & Nonprofit

Social media in the NHS - presentation to NHS East Midlands Leadership Academy