Why you need to do patient engagement

Patient engagement is sometimes seen as a nice-to-have. Especially when budgets are tight. It can be tempting to fall back on tried and tested methods of developing a campaign. But here’s why it’s essential. Simply put, if you don’t ask the right people the right...

On thriving

Just before starting back at work, I noticed something strange. My other half and I were feeling relaxed and happy. Optimistic even. What had caused it was nothing spectacular. We’d had family dinners on Christmas and Boxing Days, gone for long muddy dog walks with...

Let’s get uncomfortable with feedback

I’ve written before about the importance of listening. It’s tempting to think that “communication” is all about talking, writing or tweeting, but listening is every bit as important, if not more so. We’re running a patient listening initiative for one of our clients...

How long does it take to plan an advisory board?

Summer’s upon us and I’m sure that many of us feel like we’ve never needed our holidays more. But there’s always loads to do before we can relax, including creating an advisory board. One of the big pre-holiday questions is: do you try and squeeze in as much as you...

GPDPR is on hold…for now.

I’m relieved to see that Government plans to force GPs in England to hand over all patient data to NHS Digital this month have been pushed back till the autumn. Under the General Practice Data for Planning and Research (GPDPR) initiative, ten years’ worth of...