How NICE communicates

April 2017
The principles that guide our communications
Open and transparent

Responsive and helpful

Protecting reputation

Integral to the business
Engaged senior staff

Listen and seek feedback

Monitor and evaluate
What we do
Traditional media

Coverage:
72% positive and 25% neutral

Top 3 media outlets:
BMJ - Daily Mail - Pharma Times
Social media

Our audience has grown to over 121,000 followers on Twitter

We’re reaching new and younger audiences on Snapchat

Our videos we produced in 2016 on YouTube saw a near 200% increase in views to 14,400
Enquiry handling

1,000+ call/emails per month

Increase in questions via social media
Engagement

Speakers at 160 UK and European conferences

NICE exhibition stand 20+ events

Engaging directly with all our sectors
Website

17 million visits across main site

Visits to all of our services - Evidence Search, Pathways, CKS, BNF - totalled more than 44 million visits last year

NICE in top 3 most visited DH-ALB sites (NHS Choices and CQC)
How we're doing

Evaluation and reputation

We use the Government Communications Service evaluation framework

2013 NICE reputation survey

Overall the work of NICE is vital, credible, authoritative and rigourous

Some feedback that organisation seen as bureaucratic, rigid, complex and technical

2017 NICE stakeholder survey

Preliminary results show:

High satisfaction in NICE products and services:

Themes which emerged when respondents were asked to explain their answer:

Positive

Trust in and respect for the organisation

Acknowledgement of the ‘gold standard’ and high quality work

Evidence based

Negative

Concern about the perceived political influence

NICE is too focused on finances and cost effectiveness

Methodological approach is not always suited to social care, mental healthand public health

Unrealistic expectations for implementation that are not feasible incurrent financial climate

A good overall perception of our reputation:

An organisation that people have a good feeling about:

High levels of trust in NICE:

People admire and respect NICE:

CASE STUDY: How healthcare professionals engage NICE online

Daniel Ghinn is founder and CEO of CREATION, a HCP insights-led planning agency for healthcare

… Social media has continued to play a growing role in how UK healthcare professionals share ideas and engage with policymakers, as evidenced by new data showing the growth in mentions of NICE by HCPs using Twitter.

"A study of almost 12,000 Tweets by HCPs since the start of 2016, mentioning NICE’s main Twitter account, @NICEComms, or its website, nice.org.uk, shows an increasing volume of posts by doctors, nurses and pharmacists engaging with the organisation."

The study identifies three key areas of behaviour when HCPs mention NICE in their Tweets.

  1. HCPs question NICE

  2. HCPs respond to NICE announcements

  3. HCPs support NICE in engaging others

"It is interesting to note that NICE has been reaching out to HCPs, too. In fact, around 5% of all HCP engagement with NICE was sharing NICE calls for people – both professionals and consumers – to join its committees."

"It may surprise some readers to learn that a public body such as NICE is actively engaging HCPs online via Twitter, reaching out to them to take part on committees, answering individuals’ questions and hosting live chats. The examples discussed here provide just a brief look at how the organisation has responded to the changing behaviour of its stakeholders by embracing public social media in its public and professional engagement."