NHS England Winter communications: Evaluation of effectiveness

Healthwatch Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey and Islington engaged with 380 individuals, in April 2017, to assess the effectiveness of the Winter Communications campaign as part of the 2016-2017 Transformation Primary Care Program launched by the NHS. The aim was to assess how effective the Campaign was, and whether its key messages reached local people.

The key aspects of the campaign for North Central London, included: 1) Business card campaign, 2) Digital campaign across London and 3) Communication through CCG and practice websites.

Across North Central London, 380 individuals provided a response to the questionnaire. 263 surveys were completed face-to-face and 117 surveys were completed online. The report contains the breakdown of the demographics according to boroughs, age groups, gender and employment status.

The questionnaire was designed to find out if people know of NHS 111, and the awareness of extended access to primary care and familiarity with the NHS 111 business card advert.

The evaluation highlights the following findings:

1) the use of Business Cards to promote health services was more effective because many people (one in three individuals) learnt about the Campaign through this channel, with people in Enfield least familiar with it. However, this varied based on people’s age, employment status and geographical location.

2) The use of Digital Campaign which was done to raise awareness of NHS 111, through social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter, seems to have reached 68% of the respondents.

3) The use of Communication through CCG and practice websites was not a very effective channel. People rarely use either channels to learn about local healthcare services as only 7% of respondents reported obtaining information about a GP Hub through their local CCG.

The report makes the following recommendations:

1) Explore creative ways to disseminate key messages such as the use of combined videos and posters in waiting rooms or a template for local voluntary-sector organisations to use in their newsletter.

2) Distribute business cards to promote health services at the point of prevention during the patient journey, rather than when they are in medical need already.

3) Consider developing special materials for people who are isolated, for example, elderly or vulnerable people, housewives or carers.

4) Use channels that are commonly used communication by people, such as newspapers and magazines.

5) Borough-specific campaigns should be developed specially where low awareness of the campaign was observed.

6) Future campaigns should be co-designed in partnership with local people to ensure key messages reach people more effectively.