Creating and perfecting web copy for international pharmaceutical company Neuraxpharm

When an international pharmaceutical company approached us via a referral to write content for their redesigned corporate website in UK English, we were happy to help.

Neuraxpharm wanted writers with experience in health matters as well as journalism and communications, to ensure the content was not only engaging but also scientifically solid and trustworthy. With our decades of combined experience working within health-related communications, we were the ideal fit.

Thank you so much for delivering such good quality content. Please also transfer our gratitude to the rest of your team!

Maria Lemonidou, Corporate Digital Marketing Manager, Neuraxpharm

Neuraxpharm, based in Barcelona, Spain, describe themselves as “a European leader in pharmaceuticals for disorders affecting the central nervous system (CNS)”. Their aim is to make improvements to existing pharmaceuticals and upgrades to new products, to better the life and wellbeing of patients living with neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Researching, editing, writing and proofreading

We were tasked with writing content in a range of styles, including corporate pages directed at potential investors, and healthcare pages on CNS-related conditions and general wellness aimed at the end consumer (patients).

The work involved researching, writing, editing and proofreading over 100,000 words of public-facing content.

We created 24 comprehensive healthcare pages on different topics. Each was around 4,000 words long and outlined:

The conditions or concerns
The symptoms that may be present
Causes and risk factors
Diagnoses
Treatment and medication
Prevention
Relevant scientific studies

This was an extensive piece of work that involved many hours of web-based research including patient information and academic papers and associated academic referencing.

Most of the pages we produced followed a pre-defined structure determined by a separate SEO project the client had commissioned. However, we suggested alternative structures where required to better suit particular conditions and the best format for UK English.

These pages would provide an opportunity to communicate directly with their end users and promote additional consumer healthcare products, so we ensured the language used was clear and approachable.

We also wrote and edited many of the website’s corporate pages, directed at a professional audience (including potential investors). This involved writing about the organisation, their executive committee, and their product portfolio.

A collaborative team approach

This project was a perfect opportunity to showcase our team approach at Sorted Communications. Six writers, our operations manager and our proofreader worked together to produce 24 pages of engaging public-facing content for 18 psychological and neurological disorders, and six health and wellness conditions, all with a consistent tone of voice, style, and academic referencing system. We also wrote and edited corporate content directed towards potential clients and investors. Working to tight deadlines, we were able to provide a flexible extra pair of hands to Neuraxpharm and have everything ready in time for their new website launch.

For more information about Neuraxpharm, go to neuraxpharm.com.

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Transforming copy into accessible articles for Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust’s monthly magazine

The in-house communications team of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, a large mental health trust, asked for our support in pulling together its monthly magazine, which is read by staff, stakeholders, service users and the wider public.

Crafting on-brand articles from a range of sources

We worked remotely in this role, with the in-house team simply emailing us the ‘raw material’ they received from across the organisation – which, as well as some well-written drafts, ranged from email trails and photo captions with no background information, to articles and reports many times longer than the stated word count limit, written in a dense clinical, academic or corporate style – all of which needed investigating and writing, summarising or rewriting to turn into an article appropriate for the tone and style of the newsletter.

In order to take this project completely off the ‘to do’ list for the communications team we liaised directly and extensively with the newsletter contributors.

With our background in NHS communications we were able to work with them to turn their drafts and ideas into accessible, enjoyable articles and features that made the newsletter a ‘must read’ for staff, patients and carers alike.

We worked through the copy supplied to highlight each team’s key messages and help ‘translate’ copy written by specialists into articles suitable for a public audience.

We also worked with the contributors to agree content that was right for the newsletter and offered practical solutions for further promotion in some cases, such as adding information to pages on the Trust’s website or intranet where there was scope for including more comprehensive content.

Lightening the load for busy comms teams

This type of regular and yet project-based work is a perfect example of how we can lighten the load for a busy communications team on an ongoing basis, creating a great working relationship with other staff across the organisation and removing some of the pressure that can build from delivering such a quick turnaround, high impact publication.

By ensuring the in-house team had the time and space to focus on their other day-to-day pressures and the unexpected but priority demands that often crop up, we helped guarantee a regular, on time newsletter that readers enjoyed, every time.

For more information about Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, go to nottinghamshirehealthcare.nhs.uk.

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Being an extra, flexible pair of comms hands for Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

Our ongoing relationship with Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust is testament to the way our team can become a trusted extra pair of hands, there to be relied upon for both general support and project-based work.

We’ve supported this large, acute teaching hospital trust through a range of long- and shorter-term needs since 2007, both as an office-based presence and through remote working.

I have always been pleased with the work Ali has done for the Trust. She is consistently professional, focused and delivers work to a high standard. She’s a real asset, team player and someone you can rely on to deliver. I’d recommend her any time.

Laura Skaife-Knight, Director of Communications and External Relations (at time of assignment), Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

In the foreground of the photo is a medical worker, dressed in teal-coloured scrubs with a stethoscope hanging out of his pocket. He holds a tablet.

Applying our extensive expertise

With our extensive experience in health communications we’ve been able to support the team on various projects including working within the organisation’s website content management system to make text, image and structural updates, overhauling its patient information leaflets and writing and editing the weekly staff newsletter for several months.

And thanks to our longstanding relationship we’ve become embedded into the team, with a deep level of organisational knowledge and understanding which enables us to step in whenever needed as a trusted team member, covering annual leave or vacancies and even once covering the role of internal communications officer for a full year.

We have also helped develop a number of the Trust’s annual reports, written press releases to promote new services and raise awareness of other developments, and provided copy for newsletters.

Accurate, high quality and consistent

Key to this ongoing partnership has been our ability to provide accurate, high quality and consistent communications that patients, carers, staff and partner organisations can trust and rely on. We understand the organisation’s target audiences and can tailor information accordingly, and our years of working with the Trust and with the wider NHS mean we can ‘translate’ complicated reports and clinical jargon into easily understandable and informative copy.

For more information about Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, go to nuh.nhs.uk.

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Providing general comms support for a variety of tasks within NHS Nottingham City CCG

Our extensive experience in health communications proved to be invaluable in supporting Nottingham City Clinical Commissioning Group’s in-house communications team.

[Working as The Effective English Company], Sorted Communications provided flexible, reliable support to our communications team. They are highly competent copywriters and outstanding at editing and proofreading. Their organisational skills and attention to detail are quite extraordinary. I would not hesitate to recommend them.

Sarah Hewitt, Head of Communications, NHS Nottingham City Clinical Commissioning Group (at time of assignment)

With a background in and knowledge of all areas of the NHS – from commissioning or buying services to providing community, acute hospital and mental health care – we were perfectly placed to help the CCG promote its local services.

Our supporting role meant we picked up a variety of tasks as and when needed over a period of four years. We wrote, edited and project-managed four different regular newsletters for healthcare professionals including GPs and other partners; we wrote numerous press releases for the local media to raise awareness of services; we supported annual general meetings and other partner and public engagement events; we also made sure the CCG’s website was kept up to date and managed design and print on a range of projects in addition to meeting their copywriting needs.

We created not only general communications but also targeted publications such as a guide to services for university students, supporting leaflets for telehealth service users and people taking part in an inhaler technique project, and awareness-raising materials about personal health budgets.

We also worked closely with the Head of Communications on campaigns to communicate significant service changes and encourage behavioural change and awareness relating to flu vaccinations and A&E attendances. These campaigns involved planning and creating display advertising on buses, bus shelters, phone boxes and taxis, and large-scale banners mounted on the city’s council building.

We also worked to promote public consultations into new service developments, helping ensure the CCG met its statutory requirements, and supported copywriting, design and distribution of the organisation’s annual reports.

Our range of skills and experience combined with our ability to work remotely meant we could offer this support to the CCG’s in-house team on a regular and ad hoc basis, as a flexible addition to their team.

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Bolstering the internal comms of coach holiday and private hire company Skills Holidays

I was consistently impressed with the way in which the team produced relevant and well-written content for our newsletters each and every month with very little input from us. Left to our own devices the staff newsletter would have fizzled out after the first couple of months but they took the lead and kept it alive and interesting and it is very well received by our staff.

Nigel Skill, Director, Skills Holidays

Specialist coach holiday and private hire company Skills Holidays came to us for expert support when they wanted to bolster their internal communications. They were keen to introduce a staff newsletter but had no internal capacity with which to do so.

They did have a full-time in-house graphic designer, who also took on some marketing tasks, but to launch a newsletter they needed both project management and copywriting support.

On a sandy beach, two striped deckchairs (one blue, one red) sit next to each other in front of a calm ocean and blue sky. Over them is a large pink umbrella. At the top of the image we see the leaves of palm trees.

Acting like part of the team

We met with the senior team to establish exactly what they wanted and needed, and then took on the task of running the monthly publication – developing the production schedule and page plan for each issue, suggesting topics to cover, prompting contributors for their submissions in good time, editing where needed, and writing the majority of the articles from our own research and by interviewing team members.

We also created features to help launch Skills’ ‘Go Green’ sustainability drive and crafted important and sensitive articles informing current staff about company acquisitions and welcoming new teams into the Skills ‘fold’. We regularly contacted managers for updates on operational and company news, industry legislation and health and safety (always a challenging task with such a busy team and so many of its members frequently away from the office).

As Skills is a family-run business, we also supported the company culture and community feel by featuring stories about the staff themselves and creating competitions, wordsearches and ideas for family fun around holiday times such as Christmas and Easter.

We made sure each article was approved by the relevant manager and then sent the content to their graphic designer, who created and sent us draft artwork for proofing before print.

An ideal partner

Once our working relationship with Skills was up and running, the team began to turn to us for additional ad hoc PR support, including writing award entries, trade media articles, and press releases on award wins, new developments and charity work.

Working with Skills, we were able to link with their in-house team and develop corporate knowledge which then made us an ideal partner when they needed a little ad hoc, extra support for a one-off communication – without the need for a retainer that sets out specific tasks and covers all eventualities.

Ali is efficient, effective, flexible and responsive in the way she works. I would definitely recommend her company to anyone who could use a little extra help with making their marketing and communications ideas a reality.

Nigel Skill, Director, Skills Holidays

For more information about Skills Holidays, go to skills.co.uk.

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Carrying out and publishing annual ‘health checks’ on NHS providers for the Healthcare Commission

Our ongoing relationship with the in-house communications team at the Healthcare Commission enabled them to call on us for experienced support on more than one occasion, knowing we would ‘hit the ground running’.

One of the commission’s key responsibilities was to carry out an ‘annual health check’ on the several hundred organisations delivering NHS care in England, with the results all announced on the same day – attracting significant media interest each year.

Handling the publication of the results was a massive communications challenge requiring a meticulously planned and precisely delivered release of information to regional NHS bodies, NHS trusts and their staff, plus the media and other stakeholders.

Three people, two women and one man, sit chatting at a table. The woman in the centre holds a sheet of paper, and on top of the table are two takeout coffee cups.

Working collaboratively with comms leads

Our role was to be responsible for media handling and for internal and stakeholder communications supporting the national announcement of the results, working alongside the Healthcare Commission’s regional communications manager.

This involved working collaboratively with communications leads from NHS and other organisations across a designated geographic area as well as with interested media. We drafted internal documents and newsletter articles for trusts, identified lists and contact details for target media, prepared statements and comprehensive briefing packs for media spokespeople, set up interviews and briefed directors on key messages around the health check announcement.

The main aims were to ensure a consistent message was delivered throughout, that accurate and timely information was available to staff, stakeholders and the media, and that the reputation of the Healthcare Commission as a regulatory body was enhanced.

We were asked to repeat this role the following year – and our previous experience gave us a clear head-start on the project.

Shortly after the annual cycle of preparation began, the in-house communications manager left the organisation and so we took over the project management and also took the helm with ongoing communications such as maintaining the Commission’s website, producing newsletters and delivering more general communications and liaison with trusts and stakeholders.

When the new regional communications manager was appointed we were able to provide a comprehensive handover on all the areas we had been covering and train her on specific details of working within the organisation.

Our work with the Healthcare Commission is a great example of how we can build a relationship on corporate knowledge that allows us to offer continuity and a safe pair of hands, even when in-house staff change.

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Perfecting the promotional output of finance boutique Goodman Corporate Finance

When Paul Goodman, director at Goodman Corporate Finance, approached us for support with marketing, we were able to offer a tailored copywriting service that covered both his company and his personal board membership of the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers and sports charity CP Sport.

Thanks to the support of Ali and her team I always have the greatest confidence, even when delivering important speeches and presentations to hundreds of people from within our industry. They’re very easy to work with, and their support and professionalism is always appreciated. It is great to have Sorted Communications on board.

Paul Goodman, Director, Goodman Corporate Finance

Adding our expert skills to our client’s capability

Paul had clear ideas about the promotional work he wanted to be done but at the same time recognised that copywriting isn’t in his core skillset and isn’t the best use of his time.

By adding our copywriting skills to the marketing ‘nous’ of Paul and his colleagues, we’ve now successfully worked together to produce a new website, press releases, features and opinion pieces for both the media and corporate publications, client case studies, speeches, presentations and introductions to annual reports.

Supporting Paul to promote both his personal and the company’s professional reputation on the national stage through some interesting times in the world of corporate finance is always a pleasure. And, judging by the above quote from Paul, we think they agree.

For more information about Goodman Corporate Finance, go to goodmancorporate.com.

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Minding the (vacancy) gap and providing internal comms support for East Midlands Trains

Vacancy gaps can be a real issue for communications teams; they need to take the time to run an effective recruitment campaign to find the best new staff member, but they also need cover straight away.

That was the case with East Midlands Trains, where we stepped in to cover a role in internal communications while they worked on filling the post permanently.

Flexible, professional support at short notice

Working two days a week, we ran the staff newsletter and kept their intranet up to date, researching, writing and editing articles on company and industry news, team updates and general features. This meant accessing their online systems and ensuring that both media held consistent information and were reader-friendly and interesting for staff.

We also supported their popular staff awards programme by promoting the scheme and helping with practical details like arranging certificates and trophies.

Our ability to step in and offer flexible, professional support at short notice and for a limited but undetermined period made us the perfect stopgap for the team.

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Using our NHS experience to boost the in-house comms capacity of NHS East Midlands

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.

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Crafting a series of thought leadership articles for customer service company Answer-4u

We immersed ourselves in the world of entrepreneurship, customer service and running a business of all sizes when we were asked to create a series of fully-researched ‘thought leader’ features for Answer-4u.

‘Incredibly efficient’ is the phrase that always comes to mind. [Sorted Communications] have completed numerous flawless projects for me and my organisation. The desire to articulate what could be perceived as bland raw content into genuinely interesting and informative thought-leadership content seems to come perfectly naturally to them. I am looking forward to working with Ali and her team as often as possible and can’t recommend their services highly enough.

Darren McCowan, Marketing Manager, Answer-4u

The company’s marketing manager, Darren McCowan, asked for our support because while he had an in-house team doing a great job, he also had lots of big ideas to support the company’s business development and needed some extra capacity.

Using our expertise to create extra capacity

In addition to writing monthly features which include a ‘nod’ to the benefits of Answer-4u’s own telephone answering services, we also worked on a series of pieces offering practical advice to aspiring individuals on how to successfully set up and run their own business.

We covered topics such as sourcing funding, recruitment and retention and even wrote a piece on in-bound marketing. As well as researching the bones of the issue at hand we delved into current affairs to find relevant and interesting case study examples that really brought the content to life.

Thanks to our experience in transforming raw content into engaging and accessible copy, we were able to give some extra capacity to Darren and his team, allowing him to make his ambitions for business development a reality.

For more information about Answer-4u, go to answer-4u.com.

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