How and why the NHS should get back to basics
David Thorp - Director of Research and Professional Development at The Chartered Institute of Marketing, looks at how social marketing can achieve positive behavour change and bring the NHS back to its core values
The founding premise of the NHS was to offer a free at the point of delivery healthcare service for all. Today, the weight of political and logistical forces on this pledge can create almost un-resolvable pressures on the service at times. Tough choices have to be made, and however the solutions are implemented, decisions made for the greater good can impact negatively on the individual.
The way the NHS is represented in the media shows some of these issues, which are not the fault of NHS managers and clinicians working as hard as possible to deliver on the NHS’s promise, with limited resources. Decisions by NICE not to release particular drugs into the marketplace, or the devolution of responsibilities to enable different parts of the UK to make their own budgetary decisions, can then be described as ‘postcode lotteries’ by a media keen to expose conflicts and differences in opinion.
Part of the problem is one of political accountability. If the Government wants a Trust to campaign on reducing waiting lists, even if that Trust knows its patients no longer regard this as such an important issue, then the budget has to spent on proving to patients what they already know. There will always be similar problems, but there are several ways that a marketing approach can help. Balancing a top-line target with efficiency further down the line is exactly the way that marketing can help the NHS extract more value from existing budgets and resources.
Take segmentation, a commonly used commercial sector practice that is increasingly being used in social marketing campaigns in the NHS. Instead of broadly targeting a campaign in ways that cost budget and lead to adequate results, a highly targeted approach can put a campaign in front of the eyes of those who most need to see it, in ways designed to increase take-up, improve engagement and, when the campaign is measured, prove that resources are being used in the right ways.
The benefits of social marketing campaigns are also being recognised as a two-fold benefit – not only do you achieve the initial goal, but over the long-term, social marketing campaigns fit with the ‘prevention not cure’ aim – meaning savings can be made from people not starting smoking, or drinking heavily, or becoming obese; all of which are social problems that cost the NHS a great deal of income. This then frees up resources that can be ploughed back into the service where needed.
Responsible marketing in the commercial sector is not just about communications; it’s about performance (creating greater value) engagement (building a relationship with the customer) and efficiency (doing the effective things in ways that maintain a healthy surplus for the organisation). These are the areas that, in a ‘patient-led’ NHS, can help managers, consultants and Governments work together more smoothly in the future. Arguably, the system will never be ideal - partly because the NHS cannot, and should not, operate in an entirely free market; and secondly because the top-line desires of Government can conflict with the strategic wants of NHS managers. However, as the successes of social marketing campaigns are proving, using marketing in a ‘pure’ way – i.e., not having to meet the needs of shareholders or, necessarily, achieve a profit target; but used instead merely for achieving positive behaviour change amongst targeted patients, who most need the impetus to change – is of enormous value to the individual, the patient and wider society. It eases the financial burden on the NHS, and takes the organisation back to some of its founding values.
Recently the NHS has recognised the importance of a full range of metrics; not just producing statistics, but turning this data into insights that can then be used to improve the service. The Chartered Institute of Marketing will shortly publish a paper, Measure for measure: Metrics and marketers in the NHS, which will explore in more detail how effectiveness and efficiency can be maximised by best practice use of measurement in the organisation.
David Thorp
Director of Research and Professional Development
The Chartered Institute of Marketing
