...in a language they will listen to.

PMLive recently contacted us to write an article about the recently renamed (from  GP Consortia) NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups. We decided that the most interesting approach would be from the perspective of communication with, as anyone marketing to the NHS will appreciate, the increasingly elusive GP.

Fundamentally GPs are expected to have all the skills to reduce the level of spend yet many don’t. Address this in your communications. Provide a business-led case study, outlining the benefits for GPs, potential financial savings and, most importantly, the outcomes for  patients. Ensure that it is relevant to the local population and its needs. We encourage all our clients to think national but execute locally, demonstrating local insight.

Why the NHS thinks local.

There is little doubt that everyone involved in providing healthcare and services in the UK would appreciate some clarity and decision-making right now. Yet regardless of the current situation one thing is certain, the word ‘national’ no longer applies to healthcare and ‘local’ is clearly  where it’s at. There will soon be hundreds of individual mini healthcare systems, all tailored to the needs of their respective local community and to suit their budgets. Each will have its own individual requirements depending on the PCT, the population and how the services are currently commissioned.

At the time of writing, there are 37,000 GP practices in England, of which 220 have formed embryonic consortia, each made up of between two and 89 GP surgeries. Each GP has between 600 and 1000 patients and, on average, there are five GPs per practice. This makes for a very complicated picture that varies by location and surgery.

Word of mouth is king.

Every potential healthcare supplier, whether it is for products or services, is focusing intently on the pathfinders to see how they will commission. Every existing and new supplier wants to ensure they are front of mind when contracts are renewed or up for tender.

So how do you differentiate your product? We know from our own research that nothing spreads through the NHS like word of mouth
recommendation. Therefore good promotion of a successful product or service, whether innovative or not, will prove extremely beneficial.

Case studies can speak volumes.

Case studies can be promoted via social media as well as by conventional promotional channels and we know that non-obtrusive communications are particularly favoured eg, email marketing, events, editorial and information sourced from Linkedin. Finally, we expect to see private consultancies and procurement hubs playing a greater role in managing the buying process from tender through to contract negotiation – so it’s worth getting in front of them too.

You can read the full article Talking to GPs here. If you are interested in learning more about Clinical Commissioning Groups, please sign up to our newsletter, where we talk about the best ways to monitor, understand and engage them.