Media Savvy Commissioners
Released: 28/03/2011
The NHS Alliance has joined forces with Healthmediawareness to offer GP Commissioning Consortia leaders and their teams a bespoke media training course.
Clinical commissioning is fast becoming a reality, as more and more GP commissioning consortia are authorised as pathfinders. They are entering an arena where healthcare and the NHS are prime subjects for news media, making media communications a key new responsibility for consortia leaders.
Dr Michael Dixon, chairman of the NHS Alliance, said: “We are keen to help our members, their teams and other NHS colleagues to be fully prepared to deal with the media in the new world of clinically-led commissioning. As they become more involved and accountable for decision making in their local areas, the media spotlight will be on them. They need to be media savvy so that they are able to communicate clearly with their audiences and forge strong and open relationships with the media.”
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Notes to editors:
Healthmediawareness
New Media Training Courses for GP commissioners
As GP Commissioning consortia enter an arena where healthcare and the NHS are prime subjects for news media, GP commissioning consortia leaders need to be ready for it. Are you?
• Can you explain to the public, politicians and your own colleagues how and why you will be changing services?
• How will you handle your first crisis and defend difficult decisions?
• Who will lead your response?
• How can you get on the front foot with a journalist - what are they thinking and wanting you to say?
• What are the Rule Of Threes and the Power Of Two?
Don’t worry, help is at hand! The Healthmediawareness training day will help you to find answers to these and other questions, with coaching, interactive scenario-playing, analysis, discussion and feedback.
All participants are entitled to one-to-one media coaching (up to 45 minutes) with one of the Healthmediawareness highly-experienced trainers. You can use this to reinforce lessons, answer further questions or help you clarify your messages.
Healthmediawareness is a new collaboration between three experienced healthcare communications professionals – courses are led by John Carvel (award-winning former Guardian journalist), Ana Paula Nacif (NHS Alliance) and Andy Cowper (Health Policy Insight).
Spaces are limited – book now to avoid disappointment.
Course dates
11 April 2011, RSM Chandos House, London
16 May 2011, London (Central London location TBC)
20 June 2011, London (Central London location TBC)
Price = only £374 per delegate (inclusive of VAT). Discount rate = £325 for NHS Alliance members.
For further information or to book a place, call 01227 811987 or email us.
The Healthmediawareness team also offer in-house media training. Call or email us for more details.
About the course
This one-day training course is specifically tailored to GP commissioners and their team. The day is broken up into five interactive sessions, including role-plays of real-life examples.
Session 1 How journalists work and journalism works – understanding the conditions and agendas for national, trade, local and broadcast media
Session 2 Crisis management
Session 3 Press conferences; debrief; and how to deal with journalists and interview techniques ('be the enemy')
Session 4 Getting the media on your side - building relationships and placing positive stories
Session 5 Hints, tips + Q&A
About Healthmediawareness
The training will be delivered by three highly-experienced NHS communications professionals.
John Carvel wrote for The Guardian for 36 years, and was the paper’s social affairs editor between 2000 and 2008, specialising in the politics of health.
Ana Paula Nacif has over 15 years’ communications experience in journalism, public relations and internal communications. Ana has worked for various central and local government departments. As a writer, she has contributed to leading health and public sector publications.
Andy Cowper is a journalist specialising in health policy. He edits Health Policy Insight, NHS Alliance’s GP Commissioning Connect and is lead writer of the annual Wellards NHS Guidebook. He edited British Journal of Healthcare Management between 2000 and 2008, and launched Commissioning Health. His journalism regularly appears in HSJ, Pharma Times and The Guardian Public.
Conditions of booking
1. Payment will be required in full at the time of making the booking. Although we are happy to permit substitution, we regret that due to the need for a high tutor-to-delegate ratio to ensure maximum benefit, we are unable to offer refunds once a booking is made.
2. The 45 minutes of post-training telephone follow-up for all delegates must be booked in advance by email. While we will try to meet your requests to speak to a specific Healhmediawareness trainer, please note that we cannot guarantee which person will be available.
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