With our specialist experience of working within NHS communications, we were in the perfect position to offer support to NHS East Midlands when they needed to boost their in-house capacity.
To have such an experienced pair of hands at our disposal gave me confidence that both the communications team and our senior managers were being supported as they should be. Thanks to Ali’s experience of working within NHS communications teams, she was able to hit the ground running.
Rachael Vowles, Head of Communications and Parliamentary Business (at time of assignment), NHS East Midlands
An effective extra pair of hands
Our director, Ali, worked directly with the organisation’s small in-house communications team covering a number of areas on a part-time basis, including handling requests for information and interviews from journalists and promoting news stories to the media. She also wrote copy for the staff newsletter, maintained and further developed the organisation’s website as an effective communications tool and supported other teams by monitoring and advising on the use of the corporate identity, ensuring a consistent voice across the organisation.
In addition to the day-to-day tasks, the role included supporting the senior team by advising directors on a range of communications issues and working alongside staff from government departments to prepare ministerial briefings for use in Parliamentary discussions.
Ali also worked on the often-sensitive task of responding to Freedom of Information requests, liaising with the relevant staff and directors to ensure they were answered according to national guidance.
At Sorted, we have many decades of combined experience in working within the NHS, which we were able to use to act as an effective extra pair of hands for Rachael and her team. We provided support to both the comms and senior management team, giving them more capacity to take on other projects.