Jonathan Evans is Communications and External Affairs Manager at Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN). He ensures appropriate and consistent messaging across all external audiences, including regulators, public bodies, media, private healthcare providers, professional bodies, and the public.
The Private Healthcare Information Network is the Competition and Market Authority’s (CMA) appointed an independent ‘Information Organisation’ (IO). This appointment follows the CMA’s investigation into Private Healthcare (further details found on the CMA’s website). They have a legal mandate to gather and publish performance information regarding all hospitals and consultants providing private treatment. And act as an online source of independent and trustworthy information, ensuring patients using private healthcare can compare and choose between both hospitals and consultants.
This expert in public and para-public communication - supported by a large communication started with communication and public affairs at the Independent Safeguarding Authority scheme then moved to the equality and human rights commission. He is also a great specialist of hospitals as he acts as a Communication officer for NHS Confederation
Could you explain to us the role and mission of the PHIN in the UK?
The main provision of health care, 90%, is done by the NHS, a public sector. The NHS uses a standard language when it comes to talking about things around quality, activity, and safety in terms of patients. The private sector does not have this type of language. So it is hard for people considering private health care to try to figure out the best providers.
PHIN is a new type of organization whose main mission is that there is more information available for people considering private health care. Its main goal is to provide information consistent with NHS standards.
Each hospital that treats private patients is required to provide information to us, for example; what treatment they received and the date they left the hospital.
It provides information that is different from that of the NHS. It is about hospitals and medical institutions. It gathers consistent and coherent healthcare information for the public regarding dates, quality of services, safety…etc. PHIN collects, creates, and publishes its database on its website, to be relaunched this June, for the private health care services seekers.
What do COVID-time communications look like for you?
Covid 19 has had an impact on health care, people are generally using it differently than the way they were doing before. So, according to the data that we published earlier this year private health care numbers have dropped to 86% in April, of course, this is because of lockdown and the cancellations that happen consequently.
But the majority of private hospitals were commissioned into the provision to support the NHS and the public sector to treat Covid patients and others.
During this strange and difficult year, we have been focusing on the aspect of collecting information. We try not to shout out our role in these hard times because it is inappropriate. Our audiences have dropped during the crisis, yet we are focusing on building good relations with different public bodies. We are taking this as an opportunity to gather valuable covid time-related information, organize and build better links with different public bodies, building bridges.
On another hand, we did a lot of consumer testing, like focus groups, on how to better protect ourselves and position our website for people considering private services.
How did you adapt your communication strategy, your tools, and your content?
We have not postponed the launch of our website this year. But, I think it may have happened earlier if it was not for Covid 19. We are looking to better our UX design and put it in the context of the crisis.
Our focus shifted from getting the data to how to process it and make it available for patients. We try to make sure that the data we get goes to the rights organization to have a whole picture of the covid situation
Covid has made us busy in some way but it also freed up space in other ways. Weirdly, social distancing, and remote working have been beneficial for us. It deepened our technical skills and gave us a more analytical approach to thinking about what should be done by PHIN.
We see the crisis and lockdown as a time to invest in consumer research, how to get more engaged audiences through SEO, which is hard given the competition against private and government health institutions.
Have you noticed an increase in your audiences? If yes, what type of content and information does it concern?
I mean, to be honest, what we saw in terms of figures on our site was a drop. The figures seem to go down quite steadily during the pandemic, which seems to make absolute sense. So I think that's what we've seen on our website, the same thing with private health care as well.
Yet, we've seen our website slowly recover those audiences and start to get slightly more prominence, especially, when we have published new information about serious patient safety incidents. We've seen quite big bumps on our website.
The same thing happens when publishing information about how the market is responding to the pandemic or following the pandemic.
Nevertheless, we still are not seeing a kind of consistent audience views.
As for the type of content, we are working now on data reports and press releases, two important formats sources of information for our audience at these hard times.
What lessons do you draw from the COVID crisis in terms of communication for your organization?
The lockdown has given us precious time to sit back, organize, and reflect. We focus on areas like SEO and working remotely. We try to engage more digitally and be concise. It taught us how to work differently and effectively.
How do you see 2021, the year of vaccines?
2021 is going to be an interesting year. It will become more important that there is a good, stable, and authoritative source of information about private health care in the UK, for more pressure would be on them. I think that is the best because we are going to have a bigger role to play. With the coming of our website, there will be more focus on the kind of consumers and those sort of things.
We will focus on how to work efficiently and establish a stable source of information. We will also work more on our consumer relations through SEO and digital strategies. The keyword would be a reassurance, a large source of support for public and private health institutions.
ABOUT Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN)
The Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) is the independent, government-mandated source of information about private healthcare, working to empower patients to make better-informed choices of care providers.
PHIN is a not-for-profit organization that exists to make more robust information about private healthcare available than ever before and to improve data quality and transparency. PHIN’s vision is that all patients considering private healthcare will have access to trustworthy, comprehensive information on both quality and price to help them make their decisions.
Over the next five years, PHIN will become the first service that patients and doctors turn to when they want to understand and choose private healthcare. it will help to raise standards and expectations for the availability, transparency, and usability of health information, and act as a model for information governance.
Through analysis and publication of information, it will develop professional and public understanding of private healthcare, and drive improvement in the quality of services delivered and the outcomes of care and treatment delivered.
ABOUT Epresspack
Epresspack, a tech player in the communication sector, aims to offer the best of technology for brands and businesses and their public relations. Pioneer of anti-fake news digital newsrooms in Europe, it hosts the tailor-made digital platforms of around 300 brands and international companies (40% of which belong to the CAC 40), including Accor, ADP, Audi, Bouygues, Hermès, ING, Taittinger, Vinci, Arte, Leboncoin…. and manages a cumulative audience of 3.5 million unique visitors in 2019. Epresspack and brings together 50 employees in Paris, London, Milan and Madrid.
For the record, Epresspack had launched in September 2019 - in partnership with KeeeX, leader in on-board digital signature - an integrated blockchain protection and certification solution for press releases and other documents (source, integrity, date) for its customers.