Talk all things Communications, on National Communications Day!
Happy National Communications Day! In a world which so highly revolves around communications – especially over the last two years – it would be strange to imagine a life without it. And without it, there wouldn’t be a place for me at PCD, so for that I am very grateful of its evolution!
A day in the life of someone communications obsessed (yep that’s me!), pretty much revolves around websites, social media, newsletters, bulletins, email campaigns and posters/leaflets. All channels which we use to reach our core audiences to update and inform on all the exciting projects we are working on. However, all of the above are the end results of strategic planning and creativity in order to make it effective, with so much that goes on in the background; such as, data collection via surveys and questionnaires, graphic design, analytics and performance management, strategy and KPI setting, campaign planning – the list goes on. Meaning each day in the world of communications is different, which is exactly why I love it!
Even though my role at PCD has communication at its core, it isn’t all about the traditional and digital channels, but our experimental channels too, which means events!
Event management has always been a huge passion of mine, therefore this has to be one of my favourite parts of our communication plan! Now restrictions have been lifted, we have jam packed summer with lots of face-to-face events which is one of the best ways to communicate and develop relationships with shareholders. We have a variety of events we run such as educational training days for both clinical and non-clinical staff, AGM meetings, team building, networking events and many fundraising events/activities for our PCD Charity.
My favourite part of my role is the end result every time, between both communications and events it is one of the most important parts for me. And when I say end result, I mean seeing the patient utilisation of our health services continuously growing, encouraging ladies of 30 years to have their first smear test at our drop-in clinic, providing educational sessions to over 200 clinicians of Doncaster every month. And all of those results happened because of the above, making all the hard work pay off.
Being a part of Primary Care Doncaster has given me the opportunity to shout to the roof tops about all the amazing work we do, to make #doncasterisgreat and contributing to our overarching mission to harness the collective power of primary care, and help practices help their patients. (It wouldn’t be a comms blog without a hashtag right?!)
Overall my goal for the future of communications within PCD is to continue to support our member practices, by creating awareness of all health services available in Doncaster for patients throughout the borough.
Beth Hollis, Communications & Events Officer