Welcome

Sarah Matthew, HCA Chair

2008 has certainly been a busy year so far, with a wide range of activities completed and many more planned in the last quarter of the year.  A number of very exciting events and initiatives are expected to complete the HCA year with a flourish.  Keep an eye out for the following:

• The industry benchmarking exercise will be completed and results shared amongst our members
• A number of popular training events are being held in October - log on to the HCA website for further information
• A Talent Search 2012 workshop is planned for Q4 to which careers advisers from universities across the UK will be invited to hear presentations from member organisations.  In return we hope to gain some insight from the advisers about how graduates like to receive their career information and what would excite them about entering the world of healthcare PR.
• And finally, the new HCA Good Practice Guide for working with patient groups is almost complete and we expect it to be launched and available for our members in the final quarter this year.

As always, we are interested to hear your views and if you have any comments or questions on the HCA's offerings please don't hesitate to get in touch. Do also remember that HCA membership is corporate and so please ensure that this update is circulated to as many relevant people as possible within your organisation.

Sarah Matthew
HCA Chair

Benchmarking

Aline Beresford, Chair, HCA Benchmarking Sub-Committee

The 2007-8 Consultancy benchmarking survey was completed in May, with 25 consultancies taking part. Individual reports were distributed in early July, benchmarking each organisation's data against key charts, and these were followed by the full participants' report later that month.

Fieldwork for the 2008 Industry survey has now been completed, with a total of 10 companies participating.  In line with the consultancy survey, each questionnaire was completed by one senior communications manager, on behalf of their organisation. A telephone interview option was also offered as an alternative to self-completion of the questionnaire.  The participants' report has been distributed.

The industry survey focused on two key topics, which mirror this year's special in-depth sections of the consultancy survey:
1. The changing face of healthcare communications
2. Selecting and working with consultancies, with particular reference to the procurement process

The next step for the Benchmarking Sub-Committee will be to pull together the key themes from both surveys, to look at overall trends in healthcare communications and to assess how current practice compares to the HCA White Paper report ‘Guiding Principles of Best Practice for Selecting and Working with Communications Consultancies'. The aim is to produce a summary report that will be made available to all HCA members and used for media outreach activities during the autumn.

The White Paper report can be found on the HCA website - see Document Archive in the members-only section. You will find this report under the ‘Procurement Consultation Group' heading.

Training

Julia Harries, Chair, HCA Training Sub-Committee

Topical industry challenges and the regulatory framework which governs our practice were addressed and discussed in two very successful HCA training events during the summer months.

The first in our new series of Breakfast Briefings was held on 12th June at the Royal College of Surgeons. Industry and consultancy members heard Simon Gregor of the MHRA and Lilly's Customer Focus and Insight Manager, Jeremy Wiles, discussing the impact of counterfeiting on patient safety and the UK supply chain. The increasing expectation of customers to access an ever growing range of products and services online and global supply issues were debated, along with strategies for assuring quality and safety, and their implications for a range of stakeholders.

On 16th June expert trainers for Code in Practice, Dr Trish Campbell and Ian Hale led the latest Hot Topics Evening Discussion Forum on the 2008 ABPI Code revisions and key aspects affecting healthcare communications.

Two of the most significant aspects of these revisions for healthcare communications practitioners were built on during two, highly interactive, bespoke training workshops on 24th September. In an exclusive HCA/ Code in Practice collaboration designed to specifically meet the needs of HCA members, Trish Campbell drilled down into the practicalities of working with consultants and patient groups under the new Code and led delegates through a series of illustrative exercises.

Registration is now open for our forthcoming introductory level courses designed for new entries into the healthcare communications industry both in-house and consultancy: In A Nutshell: An Introduction to PR (23rd October) and Stop Press: Effective Media Relations for Healthcare Communications Practitioners (8th October) are both being held in central London. Further details are on the HCA website.

We hope to see you or some of your colleagues at an HCA training event soon. For enquiries on HCA events please contact the HCA events team, either by email training@hca-uk.org or by telephone on 01462 744044.  We are always keen to hear the suggestions and views of members to ensure we are providing training that is of interest and relevance to you and your colleagues. Do please drop me an email: jharries@rdcomms.com.

Membership and Marketing

Alexa Forbes, Chair, HCA Membership & Marketing Sub-Committee

Corporate Discounts
The sub-committee has negotiated discounts and free trials with a raft of suppliers and services that we feel will be of benefit to members.  These discounts are exclusive to our members and can only be accessed from the member benefits / corporate discounts page of the HCA website. The discounts are continually being updated so please check back regularly to see what's new.

HCA website
The HCA website has recently been overhauled to improve navigation in the Members Only section and to improve access to some of the HCA's key offerings such as Training, Recruitment and the HCA Good Practice Guide to Working with the Media.  The home page also profiles the latest training courses and news.

HCA Awareness Week
On Monday 23rd June, the HCA launched its first ever Awareness Week, entitled “7 years on …7 reasons”.  The aim of the awareness week was to celebrate the 7th anniversary of the HCA, to showcase its achievements and encourage more people to join and benefit from its activity.

As part of the campaign the HCA issued daily e-alerts over 7 days; each day gave a different reason to get actively involved in the HCA.  Members were encouraged to help mark the Awareness Week by sharing a short presentation on the HCA with their teams and a slide kit was produced for that purpose.  Approximately 60 members downloaded the slide deck and some in-depth telephone research has been conducted with members to gain some insights from their perspective on what worked and what didn't.  On the whole, the week was warmly received and the sub-committee will take forward the learnings gained from this inaugural awareness week into next year.

Collaborative ventures with MedComms Networking
We are currently collaborating with MedComms Networking on a couple of events in November.  The first is a CME Forum on November 4th-5th, which has been the subject of a couple of member e-alerts recently.  This may be of relevance to a number of HCA members, so look out for further details soon. The second event is a special procurement forum on November 26th in Oxford, primarily for MedEd practitioners, as part of which the benefits of HCA membership will be showcased.

Recruitment

Jennie Talman, Chair, HCA Recruitment Sub-Committee

Talent Search 2012
Talent Search 2012 is now well underway and a workshop is being held in Q4 in Central London for Careers Advisors from universities across the UK.  A number of people from member organisations will be speaking at the planned event, which aims to give delegates an insight into the world of healthcare communications.  We will also use the opportunity to get feedback from the advisors about graduates of today - how they like to receive information and what would excite them about what we do!  This feedback will inform the development of future materials and new information for the careers area on the HCA website.

Following the workshop we expect to see an increase in the number of graduates visiting the website where they can access details of member organisations who offer either work experience or graduate entry positions.  Any members who know careers advisers who may be interested in attending should ask them to email Clare White at Clare@Justhealthpr.com. 

Best Places to Work
We are also organising an event for people in member organisations who are responsible for people development.  We are currently recruiting a number of exciting speakers to talk about innovative and successful workplace programmes and strategies aimed at creating “best places to work.”  These include authors of a new report from Cranfield on flexible working and performance as well as the innovation company, WhatIf.  A formal invite and confirmation of date and venue will go out shortly.  The event will be in November and is free and exclusive to HCA members.

Return on Investment and Evaluation

Pam Bourne, Acting Chair, HCA RoIE Sub-Committee

An ongoing focus for the RoIE sub-committee is to raise the awareness of the importance and methodology for evaluation.  A current area for discussion is how to ensure that the Interactive Evaluation Toolkit (IET) is utilised as often as possible.  Feedback from members on the IET and how it is being / could be utilised is always welcome.  We would welcome feedback from members on how we can continue to encourage its routine use in healthcare communications: please contact Pam Bourne (Acting Chair) pam@packerforbes.com.

The analysis from the ROI/cost impact survey is now available.  We are currently discussing how the results are best disseminated to our members. 

Standards

Esme Newton-Dunn, Acting Chair, HCA Standards Sub-Committee

The majority of sections to the new GPG to Working with Patient Groups have now been completed and are currently being reviewed by members of the sub-committee.  Once this process is completed the Guide will be reviewed externally before final amendments are made.  It is currently anticipated that the Guide will be available on the website in October.

Meanwhile work is underway on ensuring that the existing GPG on Working with the Media is fully updated with all latest case reports.

30-Sep-2008	HCA Newsletter - Issue 10
05-Jun-2008	HCA Newsletter - Issue 9
22-Apr-2008	HCA Social Raises £698 For Charity
14-Jan-2008	HCA 2007 Annual Review
07-Dec-2007	PR Week Article - Pharma Firms Give Comms Bigger Share of Budgets

Please click HERE to go to the news archive, where you can find all past news.