@NHScommsorg was set up by Antony Tiernan (@AntonyTiernan) in 2014 to support NHS and other health communicators to share best practice. Following a number of successful events, we have teamed up with Touch Design to organise an event focused on internal communications and staff engagement.

We have seven fantastic speakers, who will speak about their work to improve the way their organisation communicates and engages with staff and other internal stakeholders. Rachel Miller, Director of All Things IC (@AllthingsIC) will chair the event.

Alex Bass (@AlexBass75) is the Head of Internal Communications and Stuart Crichton (@stucri) is Assistant Director of Operational Service Improvement with the London Ambulance Service (@Ldn_Ambulance).

They will talk about the development of the Service’s closed Facebook group, which was set up in 2013 and recently won an Institute of Internal Communications Award for the best use of internal social media.

Alex and Stuart will focus on the challenges and successes of the group, how it has changed since it was launched and the vital role that peer moderators now play in supporting it round the clock.

Kate Burke, Director of Corporate Affairs and Jacob Prichard, Communications Manager from Milton Keynes University Hospitals NHS Trust (@MKHospital) will be talking about their Event in the Tent – the #TeamMKUH flagship staff engagement event.

The Event in the Tent utilised the power of brilliant internal communications to inspire and motivate a workforce of almost 4,000 multi-professional staff. It created an open, honest and collaborative organisational space where new ideas were dreamt up, shared and support gained from management to bring them to life.

Kate (@KateBurkeNHS) and Jacob (@Jacob_Prichard) will talk about what made the Event in the Tent a success and how it’s changed the way @MKHospital approaches staff engagement.

Kate Henry is the Director of Marketing, Communications and Engagement and Jude Tipper, Head of Communications and Involvement at South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (@allofusinmind).

Internal communications and employee engagement is top of the agenda at this mental health and community Trust. Their commitment to internal communication can be clearly seen in improved staff engagement scores and feedback from partners including the Care Quality Commission.

Kate (@KateHnry) and Jude (@JudeTipper) will talk about how a strategic approach to internal communications has achieved outstanding results. They will share details of their staff wellbeing campaign #allofus, and plans for the future, including a staff app to help keep nearly 5,000 staff up to date across a range of locations.

Rebecca Oakley is Head of Communications and Engagement at Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust (@DCHStrust), rated as the top community Trust for engagement in the 2016 NHS staff survey.

Rebecca (@RebeccaDCHS) will talk about how she has used an ‘old school’ approach as part of the Trust communications and engagement strategy to boost morale and improve engagement with the 5,000 employees the Trust employs over 100 sites. The launch of the new staff magazine was about ‘bringing sexy back’ to the traditional form of communications.

Rebecca, who has more than 15 years' experience in communications, will focus on why and how she ensured this was a publication with a difference, the challenges to maintain editorial control and the plans for a ‘Gogglebox’ exclusive to break the readership levels on the winter edition!

Rachel Miller, who will chair the event, is the Director of All Things IC, which helps communicators achieve excellence through consultancy and training. Practitioners say working with her increases their knowledge and boosts their confidence. She’s a Fellow of both the Institute of Internal Communication and Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR). CIPR named her Outstanding Independent Practitioner 2017.

A regular industry judge and prolific blogger at allthingsic.com, her thoughts have been featured in a number of best-selling PR books.

Touch Design are award-winning specialists in health sector branding and graphic design. They have a very healthy client list of healthcare organisations, from statutory NHS Trusts to voluntary sector and private sector companies.

@teamtouchdesign www.touchdesign.co.uk info@touchdesign.co.uk

People who are unable to attend the event can watch it live via Periscope (by following @teamtouchdesign). Alternatively, you can join the conversation on Twitter via @NHScommsorg or by using the hashtag: #NHScomms.

Event timings

5.30pm – arrival/refreshments

6.00pm – speakers and Q&A

7.00pm – refreshments/networking

7.30pm – close

Call Kirstie on 0115 950 9394 or email Kirstie@touchdesign.co.uk for more information.