Public Health Wales / Corporate Communications Strategy
Corporate Communications Strategy
Author:Chris Lines, Director of Communications
Date:11 April 2010 / Version:1
Publication/ Distribution:
  • Communications Team document database
  • Intranet
  • Internet

Purpose and Summary of Document:
This document sets out a corporate communications strategy for Public Health Wales. It covers internal communications, stakeholder communications and corporate public communications.
The strategy complements the Naming and Branding Strategy and should be seen as part of a suite of documents which, when completed, will also include a Stakeholder Engagement Strategy and a Public Engagement and Communication Strategy.
The document identifies the communications challenges facing Public Health Wales, sets a vision and aims for communications, lays out a strategic approach and proposes key tasks for implementation.
The strategy was developed with the engagement of staff. It has been subject to an internal consultation and is amended in the light of:
  • Comments made in response to the consultation (see the report of consultation);
  • The development and agreement of the Public Health Wales organisational strategy 2010 – 2015 which it supports;
  • The development and publication of ‘Doing Well, Doing Better. The Standards for Health Services in Wales’ which it supports.

Contents

1Introduction

2Definitions

3Communication challenges

3.1Internal communications challenges

4Stakeholder communication challenges

5Public communication challenges

6Organisational strategy

7Standards for Health Services

8Audiences

9Communications vision

10Communication aim

11Communication principles

12Communication strategy

12.1Engagement of staff and stakeholders with the development of the organisation

12.2Making visible changes

12.3Facilitating and training staff to make the connections between different parts of Wales and between different teams and programmes

12.4Emphasising communications on the professional and services rather than the corporate

12.5Showing the human face of the Board and senior management

12.6Prioritising stakeholder and public communications work which supports the health boards and Directors of Public Health

13Taking forward the strategy

13.1Internal communications plan

13.1.1Information Exchange

13.1.2e-Bulletin

13.1.3Intranet

13.1.4Document management system

13.1.5Virtual team workplace

13.1.6Senior Management Forum

13.1.7National Forum

13.1.8Board member visits

13.1.9Staff conference

13.1.10Staff magazine

13.1.11Blogs

13.1.12Web forum

13.1.13Training

13.2Stakeholder communications plan

13.2.1Intranet/Internet

13.2.2e-Bulletin and alerts

13.2.3Prospectus/brochure of services

13.3Public communications plan

13.3.1Internet site

13.3.2Media relations

13.3.3Communicating in the Welsh language

13.3.4Hard to reach groups

14Priorities

14.1Screening incidents and health protection outbreaks, incidents and emergencies

14.2Issues and brand management

14.3Sharing knowledge and information

14.4Supporting local delivery

14.5Building communications capacity

15Evaluation

Date: 11 April 2011 / Version: 1 / Page: 1 of 22
Public Health Wales / Corporate Communications Strategy

1.Introduction

This document sets out a corporate communications strategy for Public Health Wales.

The strategy complements the Naming and Branding Strategy and should be seen as part of a suite of documents which, when completed, will also include a Stakeholder Engagement Strategy and a Public Engagement and Communication Strategy.

The document identifies the communications challenges facing Public Health Wales, sets a vision and aims for communications, lays out a strategic approach and proposes key tasks for implementation.

The strategy was developed with the engagement of staff. It has been subject to an internal consultation and is amended in the light of:

  • Comments made in response to the consultation (see the report of consultation);
  • The development and agreement of the Public Health Wales organisational strategy 2010 – 2015 which it supports;
  • The development and publication of ‘Doing Well, Doing Better. The Standards for Health Services in Wales’ which it supports.

2Definitions

Communication: The exchange of thoughts, messages, or information, as by speech, signals, writing, or behaviour

Engagement: taking part in

Stakeholders: organisations with a stake in determining public health priorities and the services provided by Public Health Wales e.g. health boards

Partners: organisations which work alongside Public Health Wales but which do not determine its work e.g. HPA

The public: people in Wales

3Communication challenges

The communication issues and challenges facing Public Health Wales are grouped as follows:

  • Internal communications
  • Stakeholder communications
  • Public communications

In communications, perception is as important, ormore important than, reality. It may be argued that some of the issues listed are not really problems or that they have been dealt with already. However, whatever action has been taken to deal with issues, perceptions remain unaltered in many cases.

3.1Internal communications challenges

Many of the internal communication challenges listed below were identified in thereviews of internal communications conducted within the Wales Centre for Health, WCISU, Screening Services and the NPHS prior to the establishment of Public Health Wales:

The new integrated public health system

  • There is a lack of understanding of what the new ‘public health model’ is. Some have interpreted changes as a return to the old health authority model whereas others see it as a reinforcement of the ‘NPHS service model’.
  • The ambition of establishing a unified public health organisation is felt by some to have been compromised by the establishment of seven Directors of Public Health employed by the health boards.
  • For some staff, there is a lack of confidence in the long term future of Public Health Wales. Even some of those enthusiastic to make the organisation a success believe the organisation will at least, in time, be radically cut back with many staff being transferred to the new health boards.
  • Health boards and local authorities have population health responsibilities and it is not clear to everyone whether all or some of the work of Public Health Wales is on behalf of these agencies or whether some or all can be executed in its own right.
  • Inparticular, there is uncertainty about the relationship and ‘division of labour’ between Public Health Wales and the seven health board Directors of Public Health. Some staff based locally feel as though they are being pulled in different directions.
  • The dissolution of LHBs and the discussions about basing public health staff in local authorities have created inevitable uncertainty for staff about where they will be moved to.

Bringing together of different organisational units

  • There werevery different and independent organisational cultures in Screening Services, WCISU, CARIS, the Wales Centre for Health, Health Protection, microbiology services and within some other former NPHS services.
  • There is concern in the ‘smaller services’ that Public Health Wales is in reality a ‘takeover’ by the NPHS.
  • The terminology used to describe management and service structures across the new organisation is inconsistent – there are teams, programmes, services, boards, groups, divisions, departments and directorates. This can be confusing.
  • There is a perceived slow pace to change which some staff find frustrating.

Organisational change and cultural issues

  • The frequency of organisational change while staff remain at their desks doing the same work has led to a lack of identification with, understanding of and loyalty to their employing organisation.
  • There is a widespread perception that staff are unable to influence the direction and type of organisation which employs them.
  • Some staff perceive that the organisation discourages them from engaging.
  • When engaged on issues or provided with a forum in which to contribute, staff often lack the confidence to speak up.
  • Many staff are concerned or assume that the corporate agenda is contrary to the professional agenda.
  • There is a danger of an imbalance of formal communications on corporate rather than service issues.
  • The large corporate agenda can be based on a ‘tick box culture’ - following Welsh Assembly Government instructions with little or no explanation of its purpose or rationale.
  • The financial climate sometimes encourages staff to disengage from the wider organisation.

Public health challenges

  • Most public health staff work in support of, or in partnership with, other agencies meaning that there are often issues of lack of visibility and identity for their work.
  • There is concern that resources allocated to health and social care quality will be at the expense of those currently devoted to health improvement.
  • Few staff have an understanding of the full range of services provided by Public Health Wales.
  • There is not a clear understanding of the role and make up of the Public Health Wales Observatory and Institute.
  • There is not always a consistency of public health response across the organisation.

Geographical challenges

  • There is a division between the centre and those working locally. Work and staff are often seen as one or the other. All Wales issues are often identified as ‘central’ issues.
  • Public Health Wales staff are based in more than 40 different locations across Wales, mainly in small teams embedded in other organisational premises. This geographical isolation weakens identity and presents direct and informal communication challenges.

Communication system challenges

  • Across Public Health Wales, communications systems are applied inconsistently.
  • Information technology is used differently as a means of communication in different services.
  • Some staff express a lack of interest in the full range of Public Health Wales activity and want all communication tailored to their interests.
  • Some staff feel that communication systems by-pass management systems.

4Stakeholder communication challenges

Some of the internal communications challenges also have external ramifications.

Informal feedback and previous formal stakeholder reviews have influenced this section of the document.

The challenges of communicating with partners and external stakeholders are principally marketing challenges. They are as follows:

  • There is a need to build a strong working relationship with health boards, in particular the Directors of Public Health. These relationships are critical to the success of Public Health Wales.
  • Some senior health service managers remainconcerned that Public Health Wales has inherited the perceived ‘poor services’ provided by the NPHS.
  • There is some concern that some Public Health Wales staff are not responsive to stakeholders and do not provide a ‘customer-focused’ service.
  • There is a need for a strengthened commitment to partnership working locally.
  • Some in local government are concerned that there will be a shift in the allocation of public health resource from local governmentto the NHS.
  • Expectations of Public Health Wales are very high.
  • There are a multitude of stakeholders with a variety of interests – some very specific and some very broad. It is difficult to communicate consistently according to communication need.
  • It is difficult to balance the different perspectives and needs of stakeholders.
  • Partly, but not wholly, as a result of this, some stakeholders believe it is difficult to influence the general public health workplan.
  • It is difficult to balance local and all Wales priorities and there is concern locally that the national priorities take priority.
  • There are variable standards of general public health work and it is difficult to be sure that advice is given consistently in all areas in all parts of Wales.
  • There is a general lack of understanding of public health, its role and the services it covers.
  • Much public health work is invisible to the partners it is provided for.
  • There is confusion among some stakeholders about the different roles in Wales of the HPA and Public Health Wales.
  • Few stakeholders have an understanding of the full range of services provided by Public Health Wales.

5Public communication challenges

There are many public communications challenges in public health and this is not the place to identify them as they are primarily service issues.

The challenges below relate to the corporate communications issues facing Public Health Wales, rather than service communications issues:

  • There is a poor public understanding of the concept and practice of specialist public health.
  • There is a general understanding that specialist public health only has a minor or incidental role.
  • Specialist health protection services have a much higher public profile compared with work in other domains because of ongoing media interest in outbreaks and incidents e.g. swine flu.
  • There are a large number of organisations, services and brands promoting, and associated with, public health in Wales which can be confusing.
  • There is little understanding of the full range of services provided by Public Health Wales.

6Organisational strategy

Public Health Wales has agreed a five year organisational strategy in which it describes its ambition to achieve a healthier, happier and fairer Wales.

Public Health Wales provides an expert public health resource. Its purpose is to give people power to protect and improve health and wellbeing and to reduce inequities. It does this by informing, advising and speaking up for them.

Public Health Wales aims to lead by example. In all its actions, whether with colleagues, stakeholders or partners, it will seek to be professional, persuasive, open, reflective and responsive.

7Standards for Health Services

‘Doing Well, Doing Better – Standards for Health Services in Wales’ set out the Welsh Assembly Government's common framework of standards to support the NHS and partner organisations in providing effective, timely and quality services across all healthcare settings.

Standard 18 - Communicating Effectively is directly relevant to this strategy which requires NHS Wales organisations to “ensure effective, accessible, appropriate and timely communication and information sharing:

  • Internally and externally;
  • With patients, service users, carers and staff using a range of media and formats;
  • About patients, service users and their carers;
  • On the full range and locations of services they provide;
  • Addressing all language and communication needs.”

However, the strategy does not address specific service based communications for Public Health Wales’s public facing programmes e.g. the screening programmes and Stop Smoking Wales. Specific communication plans are being put in place for each of these services.

8Audiences

Audiences of interest to Public Health Wales include:

  • Staff
  • Stakeholders
  • Partners
  • The Public

9Communications vision

Public Health Wales should be an organisation:

  • in which staff have more in common with each other than which differentiates them;
  • in which staff have the information they need to engage fully in providing public health services;
  • in which stakeholders and partners have the information they need to maximise their impact in protecting and improving public health and reducing inequities;
  • which engages citizens in Wales, both directly and with partners and stakeholders, so they have the understanding of health needed to protect and improve their health and wellbeing.

10Communication aim

The communications aims for Public Health Wales should be to:

  • Develop a shared understanding of the vision, mission and values of Public Health Wales;
  • Build a clear understanding of the role, functions and purpose of Public Health Wales amongst staff and stakeholders;
  • Inspire Public Health Wales staff to engage in the development of the organisation;
  • Tell the story and share with staff the difference their work is making;
  • Reassure stakeholders that they will get high quality services from the organisation;
  • Ensure that staff and stakeholders know who in Public Health Wales to contact for specialist advice and how to access the organisation.

11Communication principles

To achieve its aims and to deliver its communications strategy, Public Health Wales should adopt the following communication principles:

  • Good communications is a two-way process. It’s about listening as well as saying.
  • Action speaks louder than words so communications must be in step with the reality of the organisation and its activity.
  • Communications is part of the organisation and the way it works, not an adjacent activity. At their best, communications processes are invisible, inherent and indivisible from the organisation’s working structures and processes.
  • Good communications is dependent on clarity of vision, purpose, understanding, messages and language.

12Communication strategy

Public Health Wales is an expert and authoritative organisation with services led by scientists and professionals. Its tone of voice should reflect this.

There are a number of strands to the communications strategy which is designed to address the challenges identified above and to achieve the communication aims:

  • Engagement of staff and stakeholders with the development of the organisation.
  • Making visible changes.
  • Facilitating and training staff to make the connections between different parts of Wales and between different teams and programmes
  • Emphasising communications on the professional and services rather than the corporate.
  • Showing the human face of the Board and senior management.
  • Prioritising stakeholder and public communications work which supports the health boards and Directors of Public Health.

Each of these strands is explained below.

12.1Engagement of staff and stakeholders with the development of the organisation

Through a number of engagement processes, mainly within the Unified Public Health System Project, but also through public consultation, staff and stakeholders contributed to the establishment of Public Health Wales.

This engagement needs to be continued with the development of the organisation itself.

A variety of techniques – focus groups, workshops and other staff meetings – should be used to achieve effective engagement. Many of the communication channels described below will be needed to support this engagement.

12.2Making visible changes

There are some obvious changes which will demonstrate the difference the new organisation makes:

  • Arrangements for providing public health services to the health boards, Welsh Assembly Government and local authorities
  • Arrangements for communicating the contact details of the lead staff in all services
  • Arrangements for assessing stakeholder needs
  • Arrangements for assessing stakeholder satisfaction with products and services
  • Arrangements for setting standards and quality assuring work
  • The management structure and terminology to be used in describing it

12.3Facilitating and training staff to make the connections between different parts of Wales and between different teams and programmes

There are a number of actions which will improve the ability of staff to make connections between different parts of Wales and between different teams and programmes.

Clarity about who leads on what subject and in what areas is essential so that staff and stakeholders can contact the right people for advice quickly and simply.