In the past year, LCA has continued to expand its health practice and worked on a number of important NHS initiatives across the capital.
In September 2009 LCA was called upon by NHS London, the Strategic Health Authority in the capital, to provide on-site press office support during the initial outbreak of swine ’flu. An LCA Account Manager spent a week seconded directly into NHS London managing the media and stakeholders, as well as preparing briefings for the Department of Health and relevant Ministers. Thanks to the flexible support LCA was able to offer, NHS London again turned to us later in the year when the second wave of the virus hit the capital, tapping into more press office cover and media handling expertise.
In October 2009, LCA was also appointed by eight Primary Care Trusts in North East London to manage the media around a major reconfiguration of hospital services in the capital. Having already provided similar support to the NHS in North London since 2006 and in West Sussex in 2007/08, LCA was able to hit the ground running and deliver excellent results in a largely unsupportive media and stakeholder climate. In the nine months that LCA worked on ‘Health for North East London’, we managed to keep the coverage well balanced by placing a number of positive articles in the media, specifically targeting local and BAME press to improve messaging. Two LCA Account Managers also spent six months seconded directly into the project press office.
In addition to ‘Health for North East London’, LCA was also appointed on a similar review in North Central London and, subsequently, in North West London. As a result, in the past year LCA has worked on three out of the six new health ‘sectors’ in London, including an LCA Director taking on the role of Interim Head of Sector Communications.