Social Media for CCGs

The battle has been won, the bans have been lifted and now the NHS and a great majority of its staff have access to social media in the workplace.

This is the prime time to be, not just using it, but using it well. CCGs have promised to use the public to shape the outlook of the NHS. What better way to reach them than connecting with them where they ‘hang out’ – their virtual social life.

It would therefore seem CCGs in the midst of developing their communication and engagement strategies can’t afford not to leverage social media.

It predominantly provides transparency keeping all those concerned parties in the loop.

Twitter and Facebook is like an open book - just what is needed in a diversely changing NHS. If someone likes you or posts a positive comment then great, everyone can see it. If someone mentions something negative then, yes it does create a challenge but, you can use this to your advantage to show how switched on you are to finding a resolution to that problem.

The virtual community can clearly see that you not only value interaction, criticism and debate but you know how to deal with it. Therefore coming in-line with the key terms outlined in the white paper, Equality and Excellence: Liberating the NHS, which were that the public should have both Choice and Voice.

If your CCG can really embrace the nature of social media, through providing great content and interacting with audiences, it reassures people that you can be trusted and that you actually want to listen and learn from their views.

The Wakefield District’s ‘Your GP will see you now’ social media campaign is a prime example of interacting with local people. The Facebook page, created by the clever eskimosoup marketers, has received more than 1,500 likes alone for the service it offers. It allows people in the area to get to know their GPs on a much more personal level, find out about what services their doctor can provide and tells them where their nearest surgery or out of hours service is.

A social media presence can also help to reach those who may not always seek medical advice. It can even be used to broach health related issues that may otherwise be seen as a taboo. For example, NHS Hull’s interactive Facebook profile “Midwife Hull” that we developed was designed to stop pregnant women smoking. It was able to directly speak to a “hard-to-reach” group of women who were not speaking up about the problem. As well as initiating a behavioural change in expectant mums we were also congratulated by Facebook themselves for our great online approach. eskimosoup have played vital roles in using social media to promote other rather unspoken subjects like the widely praised NHS Hull’s 1 in 4 Mental Health campaign. With the help of tools like Twitter and Facebook the campaign is reducing the stigma and discrimination surrounding mental health issues. It is also raising awareness of how common mental illness can be and that people need to feel more open talking about it.

These are just a few of the great ways we here at eskimosoup are helping the NHS push past limitations by using social media formats.

So don’t be fooled - joining the social sphere is not just about posting the odd tweet or liking a funny status it is about getting creative, thinking cleverly and staying relevant in an ever increasing social world.