Pilgrim Street
London EC4V 6DR
The Boorman Review into Health and
Well-being in the NHS
Luther provided a full suite of communications support to the independent Boorman Review of staff health and well-being in the NHS.
Dr Boorman said:
"The review of health and well-being of the NHS workforce touched a huge range of diverse stakeholders, and required sensitive and accurate communications management as a key contributor to its acceptance and success. The team from Luther Pendragon provided excellent expert support and handled this project superbly. Throughout a complex and fast-moving programme, their efficiency and expertise enabled us to meet demanding timetables and secure outstanding levels of stakeholder engagement and media outcomes. I very much appreciate the high quality advice and materials delivered during this work together."
For the lifetime of the Review (March-November 2009), Luther operated a remote press office and ran a 24/7 media hotline. This included creating a 200-strong event in central London for NHS staff and stakeholders, attended by NHS Chief Executive David Nicholson, to launch the Review’s Interim Report. That launch was covered by every national newspaper and every major broadcaster in the country. Subsequent media analysis revealed an audience reach of at least 20million people, with 76% of coverage judged to be either fully or mostly on message.
Luther designed, developed and ran a bespoke website for the Review (www.nhshealthandwellbeing.org) which provided not only a platform from which to make the Review’s unfolding findings widely available through regular news updates and key publications, but was also a vital engagement channel. 
In the first phase of a tailored online-offline engagement strategy, the Luther team used external media and internal NHS and DH communications channels to drive NHS staff and stakeholders to the site. Once there, they were able to respond to the Review’s Call for Evidence or to respond directly to a staff survey run through the site. In a two month period from April to May 2009, over 11,000 NHS staff responded to the survey and the Review received over 250 responses from organisations (NHS and non-NHS) to the Call for Evidence.
In the later phases of the Review, the website was used to drive and facilitate attendance at a series of stakeholder engagement events held in every Strategic Health Authority in England, and hosted a dedicated “Ask Steve” channel which encouraged individuals to put questions directly to Dr Steve Boorman about health and well-being. The feedback channels on the site received and individually responded to over 100 questions and queries between August and October 2009.
In addition to media, web and stakeholder engagement work, Luther provided Dr Boorman and the Review team throughout with strategic support and senior counsel, on-the-ground support at over a dozen stakeholder events, and created DVD packages to capture the launch of the Interim Report and the subsequent staff workshops.