“Stop thinking about products and start thinking about people and pathways” - Key insights from the HCA Conference

Last week I attended the Healthcare Communications Association (HCA) Conference in Manchester to hear perspectives from a wide variety of experts on the vital role that communications must play in driving the adoption of life-changing health technologies and medicines.

Sessions covered how we can help accelerate innovation, how we can help drive adoption of digital health solutions and how we must use communications to minimise health inequalities.

Lesson 1: Focus on people, not products

One of the common themes of the day was the importance of focusing on people, not products. As Claire Portsmouth from the Health Innovation Network outlined, an audience-first perspective can help unlock barriers to behaviour and identify potential drivers to propel effective communication strategies.

A common mistake I see among health innovators is focusing on the product and what it does first, rather than on the people who will benefit from it. Those who start from the perspective of the product tend to find themselves pumping out high volumes of content championing the features of their innovation but are left surprised when, ultimately, this doesn’t engage or resonate with their target market.

An audience first approach, however, demands much more than simply paying lip service to the potential users of a product - it requires really getting into their heads. As healthcare communicators, we need to invest time in having real conversations on the ground to understand the people we are targeting and the challenges they face, so that we can bring them to life in a way that wins their attention to such an extent that they are compelled to engage in education that will, in turn, move them further down the funnel towards action. 

Here at Evergreen, we always prioritise understanding the prospective buyers of our clients’ health innovations. For example, when we recently worked with NGPod, a medical device business, we conducted a series of structured interviews with Nutrition Nurses to understand just how NGPod’s innovative new method for checking the correct placement of nasogastric tubes would help them in their work. We learned a lot about the anxieties created by the existing methods of using pH strips and X-rays and about the complexities of gaining sign-off for purchases of this nature. Our resulting campaign brought those challenges to life, amplified the results of a clinical trial and went viral within the nurses community, generating a large number of new leads for NGPod.

Lesson 2: Prioritise building a reputation based on evidence and expertise

The conference also included a great deal of talk about the importance of trust in healthcare. A varied panel of experts outlined how trust is harder won in healthcare than other sectors and yet, because of the importance we place on our health, it is also a bigger driver of successful adoption. It’s widely agreed that the NHS requires innovation to thrive but its risk-averse culture can sometimes be a barrier. Healthcare companies that build a good reputation, based on effectiveness, knowledge and experience are more likely to gain NHS adoption.

We helped clinical software business, Meddbase, to do just that and secure NHS Integrated Care Board customers within three months with our ‘diabetes referrals at-scale campaign’. Knowing that Meddbase had never worked with the health service before, we devised a campaign that would quickly demonstrate knowledge, prove effectiveness and bring to life experience, with a pilot evaluation report that showed how an NHS regional managed solution for diabetes referrals increased uptake of the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme. However, rather than just communicating the results, we worked with Meddbase and NHS North Yorkshire and Humber to identify the learnings for other Integrated Care Boards who may wish to use similar technology. The result of this strategic educational campaign was more than 100 organic webinar attendees, a request to buy the technology on the webinar and tangible revenue within three months. 

Lesson 3: Innovation drives inequality, good communication can reduce it

The conference also highlighted the role that communications can play in supporting improved access to effective healthcare treatments. A really interesting point that was consistently emphasised was that innovation, by its nature, tends to drive inequalities as, usually, marginalised groups are left behind. Speakers discussed how, as the social conscience of an organisation, public relations and communications practitioners can advocate for solutions to support those vulnerable people and ensure messages and channels are suitable for all relevant groups, not just ‘the majority’. Currently only 3% of patients ever join a clinical trial and this slows down the innovation process, delaying drug development by years.

This is an issue we understand through our work with Tinnitus UK, who wanted to engage their community around their call for a Tinnitus Biobank to help foster innovation. By bringing that to life across multiple channels, using clear language and providing education on how the facility would work, we were able to attract 3,500 people to sign up in just one week.

On the issue of inequalities, this goes back to the point of starting with the audiences in mind. The more we understand the different people we are targeting, the better we can plan our campaigns and communications to truly engage those groups. No one should be an afterthought. We need to start with where the audience is - whether that’s their level of understanding or the spaces and channels they occupy - so that we develop programmes that reach them, that overcome their barriers to access and that speak to their priorities. This leads to better engagement and improved healthcare which is, ultimately, what we all want to see.

This blog was written by Leigh Greenwood Chart.PR, founder and managing director of Evergreen PR. Leigh has been working in healthcare PR, public affairs and communications for 20 years as has experiences across life sciences, health tech, private healthcare, NHS and Government communications.