As the membership body for the full range of NHS organisations, the NHS Confederation is uniquely placed to provide an independent voice for the NHS. Our busy media team has been working hard to promote the contribution NHS management is making to improving patient care and to respond to major health stories.

March 2008

Summary

• In March, the press office issued eight reactive statements and one proactive press release. We also submitted four articles for publication and wrote one letter to editor.
  
• Our proactive work in March publicised the appointment of Liz Kendall as the permanent director of the Ambulance Service Network, which was reported in Society Guardian and various trade outlets.
  
• We also reacted to a number of national news stories. We issued a statement in response to the DH quarterly financial figures for the NHS which featured in The Guardian as well as the trade press, and statements on the extension of choice and the promotion code for organisations. Sue Slipman briefed a journalist from the Daily Telegraph on the promotion code for NHS organisations. The press office drafted specific responses on a range of topics to specialist press including Public Private Finance and Community Care. We issued a letter for publication in the Health Service Journal on the government’s commitment to ISTCs from the NHS Partners network
  
• There was further coverage of Gill Morgan’s resignation in the trade press, which included a front cover story on the Health Service Journal, as well as tributes from colleagues and a letter published the following week from a former NHS Confederation chair
  
• Nigel Edwards appeared on an edition of the six o clock news to talk about car parking charges in relation to the story of the abolition of charges in Wales
  
• The media team also submitted four articles for publication. These included features on the new ambulance network and AMBEX conference for emergency services press, and an editorial for the British Journal of Healthcare Management.

Key statistics

Media enquiries received – 74
Press statements issued reactively –8
Press releases issued proactively – 1
Articles written for publication – 4
Letters - 1