Highly Commended
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
Summary of work
The Media and External Affairs team comprises 11 full time equivalent members of staff, four based in London and two in each UK nation. Despite a challenging 12 months for the team – with a major report in January, a series of unpredictable external cases bringing paediatrics into the spotlight, a snap general election and some staff changes early in the year – results have been impressive.
The team’s remit is broad, including to boost the RCPCH’s media profile, influence policymakers from across the UK, train paediatricians to be effective spokespeople, and enhance and protect the reputation of the organisation. Targets in all these areas have been exceeded, with media coverage targets met within the first two months of the year, considerable success in launching the influential ‘State of Child Health’ report and significant numbers of paediatricians trained across the UK in both media and parliamentary skills.
This is a small, yet highly dedicated and enthusiastic team, which punches above its weight. The team has played a key role in ensuring the RCPCH is a major player in the child health sector and a major force in influencing positive policy change for child health.
Judges’ comments
The RCPCH team envisioned a brave goal with a tight budget and delivered real change. Their story really struck the judges because they campaigned for a real purpose. They put in a lot of hard work especially with the lack of resources they had and identified their point of innovation, which was finding creativity with low resources. The team was very cohesive, especially considering they came from different bases across the country. They were proactive in being public facing and they had tangible, impressive outputs. The judges were very impressed with this group.
