Case study
We were appointed by the Great North Care Record (GNCR) to raise its profile as it launched a revolutionary shared care record platform across the North East and North Cumbria.
GNCR’s shared care record system is a leading example of multi-trust collaboration. With over 600 organisations contributing data, it had the potential to improve care provisions for the 3.2 million population in the North East and North Cumbria.
However, rolling out such a huge system across multiple organisations meant that communicating its benefits was a challenge. Each trust had its own way of doing things, it was seen as a Newcastle-specific project, and it was difficult for the GNCR’s communications team to onboard and engage with clinicians on their own.
Additionally legacy systems meant the name of the GNCR shared care record was inconsistent, even in the same trust or department!
Whilst key messages and channels had been established, ‘finding the best methods’ to communicate these across multiple locations, organisations, departments, and clinicians became increasingly difficult. Different departments worked and communicated in different ways, and in a post-Covid world, tactics that were effective before were not having the same impact.
We needed to find a way to understand how GNCR users perceived the system, and what would engage them and encourage them to use it.
We developed a phased plan to uncover insights and tailored communication strategies that would boost engagement and raise GNCR’s profile.
Work included:
Research
Conducting region-wide qualitative and quantitative research with stakeholders which would encourage and increase usage.
Strategy
Developing objectives, key messages, and tactics to raise awareness using the research phase results.
Creative
Creating eye-catching, relevant imagery that would encourage and increase usage.
Following our research phase, we got to work identifying key messages and tactics that would engage our stakeholders.
Working closely with the GNCR team, we engaged with several users who had been interested in the GNCR development and growth. We wanted our ambassadors to represent every profession and region that use GNCR with an initial priority to recruit people from areas and regions with smaller usage numbers.
In our first launch event, we had a great cross-section of attendees from all over the region, from North Tees to Northumberland – and across multiple disciplines including GPs, general surgeons, mental health nurses, and midwives. As the programme matured, we recruited people from local authorities, palliative medicine, emergency care, and pharmacy.
