Yorkshire health bosses aim to '˜turn down the noise' on £420m cuts with guerrilla marketing campaign

Yorkshire health chiefs are attempting to silence growing public anxiety about NHS cuts by hiring communications specialists to run a '˜guerrilla marketing' campaign.
A marketing agency is to be hired to 'turn down the noise' about NHS  cuts fearsA marketing agency is to be hired to 'turn down the noise' about NHS  cuts fears
A marketing agency is to be hired to 'turn down the noise' about NHS cuts fears

News of the plans for the Humber, Coast and Vale region to spend £10,000 on a project designed to “turn down the noise about cuts to services and risks to the NHS” comes as the Yorkshire Post reveals private consultancy firms have been paid more than £1m to draw up controversial cost-cutting plans for the county’s health service.

The area’s Sustainability and Transformation Plan sets out proposals designed to address an estimated £420m funding gap for NHS services over the next five years by changing the way care is delivered in places like Scarborough, the Vale of York and Hull and East Riding.

Hospital services are under review as part of the changes.

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An ‘expressions of interest’ document aimed at communications and marketing specialists says it is intended the ‘social media and guerrilla marketing campaign’ would start this April and run until the end of this year.

It says: “We want to turn down the noise about cuts to services and risks to the NHS, and be able to demonstrate that our population understands that a focus on quality and prevention will sustain services into the future.”

The documents warns the intended target audience may be resistant to the communications campaign as “people may fear that the changes we propose are designed for the sole purpose of saving money and have no basis in clinical excellence”.

Companies wanting to take on the project are being asked to explain what marketing tactics they would employ “to surprise people and challenge their thinking about healthcare services”.

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Chris O’Neill, programme director for the Humber Coast and Vale STP, said that cuts to health budgets has had an impact on how information is provided to the public, leading to the need to hire ‘extra expertise’.

“We are committed to adopting an inclusive approach to the development of plans as part of our STP process.

“Most of the associated work on communications and engagement is being designed and delivered by our experienced local teams, but we need extra expertise for this social marketing element and are looking for external support with that.

“There have been cuts of more than £1m to public health funding in Hull alone, which will have an impact on how health information is provided to the public. In this context, our spend of £10,000 to reach a population of 1.4m, including groups who are easily overlooked and digitally excluded, is an important contribution that is proportionate and timely.”

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