Celebrating excellence in health journalism

At Blue Lozenge, we believe that great health journalism doesn’t just inform it saves lives. That’s why we were so proud to sponsor the Feature of the Year (Broadcast) award at the 2025 Medical Journalism Awards (MJA).

This year’s winners, Patrick Russell, Cree-Summer Haughton, Eloise Swinton, Hattie Hamilton, Matt Williams and Ed Saunt, took home the award for their powerful News feature, Britain’s Backstreet Surgery Scandal.

The documentary exposed the hidden dangers of unregulated cosmetic procedures in high-street salons, sparking urgent conversations about safety and standards. As the judges said:

“The documentary exemplifies the role that only well-resourced journalism can fulfil in our society. An outstanding insight into what is perhaps the biggest health fad of the moment.”

We couldn’t agree more. Health journalists take on the difficult stories that demand attention, distil complexity and hold systems to account; making vital information accessible for everyone.

The MJA awards this year were hosted by Shaun Lintern, Sunday Times journalist and chair of the MJA. The awards are held annually and celebrate the excellent work of health and medical journalists across the UK.

Rachel Royall, Our CEO said: “We really believe strongly in the value of journalism. Patients sometimes cannot advocate for themselves. They need excellent expertise and fantastic journalists who go above and beyond to research topics and get the best outcome for the patients and the public.”

That’s why Blue Lozenge is proud to support them. Their work doesn’t just tell stories it drives change.

If you’re a journalist and need support with stories, get in touch. If you are a health organisation and need PR support, we’d love to hear from you.

Get in touch at: hello@bluelozenge.co.uk

Media training for public health leaders

Helping public health professionals deliver clear, confident messages under pressure

Working with the media plays an important role for any organisation. Blue Lozenge worked with the public health teams from both Reading Borough Council and West Berkshire Council to train team members in both proactive and reactive media relations in preparation for managing public health campaigns and crises.

Approach

When developing bespoke media training, we create a package designed to meet each client’s unique needs. For the Reading and West Berkshire Public Health team, this involved building confidence to engage with the media during health protection challenges, disease outbreaks, and other public health events. We asked each participant to answer a pre-training questionnaire, which provided us with insight into how each participant felt about media training and their current strengths and weaknesses. There are three key areas we covered:

  1. The media landscape

Throughout the media training, we provided a thorough understanding of the media landscape and identified the key audiences for both public health teams and good and bad practices when handling the media.

2. Narrative and messaging

We worked with both public health teams to help refine their current messaging and ensure its suitability for media use.

  • Practical skills and techniques

Each participant undertook multiple interviews to simulate interactions with different media outlets on a range of different issues. The idea of this is to help each individual build up their confidence and practice their responses to a range of different questions.

Outcome

The media training equipped both Reading Borough Council and West Berkshire Council’s public health teams with the confidence and skills to deliver clear, authoritative messages during critical public health events. Participants developed strong foundational knowledge of media relations, refined messaging techniques, and gained practical experience through realistic interview simulations.

This enhanced capability will enable the teams to proactively engage with media outlets during health campaigns and respond effectively to crisis situations, ensuring accurate public health information reaches communities while preventing the spread of misinformation. The training created a sustainable foundation for ongoing media engagement, with team members now able to represent their organisations professionally and communicate complex public health messages in accessible ways that build public trust and understanding.

If you need support with media training for your team, please contact us at: hello@bluelozenge.co.uk

Building leadership communication impact

Summary

Public Health Wales (PHW) commissioned Blue Lozenge to provide leadership development and strategic support for its communications team following a post-COVID strategic review. Blue Lozenge developed a bespoke framework including tailored mentoring and coaching for senior leaders, support for the Head of Communications in strengthening executive relationships, peer networking across the healthcare sector, and a team session to embed new ways of working. The programme resulted in a leadership development framework, a shared team purpose, and a communications and engagement strategy aligned to PHW’s organisational priorities.

Bespoke coaching and strategy to strengthen health communication teams

Public Health Wales‘ (PHW) communication team had completed a strategic review and wanted to emerge from the Covid-19 crisis in a position of strength. They needed targeted leadership development to clarify strategic priorities and strengthen their relationships with stakeholders.

Approach

Using their strategic review, at Blue Lozenge we created a bespoke framework for team development. We developed tailored mentoring and coaching for the senior leadership team, focusing on strategic impact and individual development needs to improve their delivery against the PHW strategy. Working closely with the Head of Communications, we supported the strengthening of their relationships with executive colleagues within PHW.

We connected team members with peers across the healthcare sector through our extensive networks. Working closely with the Head of Communications, we supported their leadership role and relationships with executive colleagues. Finally, we delivered a team session to embed new ways of working and allow shared learning across the whole team.

Impact

Public Health Wales now has a fully developed and achievable leadership development framework that has enabled them to build capability within their team and provide expert assurance and influence at the highest levels internally and externally. We supported them to develop a shared team purpose and communications and engagement strategy that helps the team support the wider organisation to deliver their organisational priorities. The programme also supported personal development and capability building journeys, enabling the team to invest in their own learning and network building across the healthcare communications sector.

Strategic PR support for private healthcare companies

Summary

Darwin Group commissioned Blue Lozenge to reposition their media presence from construction trade press to healthcare publications, targeting NHS decision-makers including chief executives, finance directors, and estates leads. Blue Lozenge refined Darwin Group’s messaging to address NHS estates challenges, developed a focused healthcare PR strategy, and led media engagement across specialist health titles and regional and national outlets. The strategy delivered Darwin Group’s first earned media coverage in key healthcare trade publications, significantly increasing their share of voice among NHS stakeholders and establishing their reputation as a trusted commentator on healthcare estates challenges.

Helping Darwin Group access the health and care sector through strategic PR

The Darwin Group had historically concentrated their media relations on the construction trade press that aligned with their industry background but didn’t reach their target audience; NHS and healthcare decision-makers, who engage with specialist health media and mainstream news.

They set out to build credibility with NHS stakeholders and position themselves not just as builders, but as partners in solving health system pressures.

To support their business goals, the Darwin Group needed to reposition themselves in the media landscape moving from a construction-focused narrative to one that spoke directly to healthcare priorities, particularly as estates face major challenges of deteriorating buildings, corridor care and reduced budgets.

Approach

Blue Lozenge worked with Darwin Group to refine their messaging, ensuring it addressed the urgent challenges facing the NHS and demonstrated how their fast-deployable modular solutions could deliver meaningful impact.

We worked closely to shape a focused healthcare PR strategy and lead their media engagement, across both specialist health titles and regional and national outlets. A key part of the approach involved upskilling the Darwin Group team on the value of earned media, and how strategic PR could drive credibility and influence.

We established clear and consistent messaging for their public relations, tailoring it for an external healthcare audience while ensuring alignment with broader business goals.

Through a proactive outreach, responsive commentary, and targeted media engagement, the Darwin Group strengthened its reputation and began to be recognised as a trusted voice on healthcare estates challenges, positioning themselves as a go-to commentator for health sector estates media.

Impact

The PR strategy developed by Blue Lozenge delivered the Darwin Group’s first-ever earned media coverage in key healthcare trade publications, marking a significant shift in visibility with their target audience. This, alongside continued presence in construction media, elevated their profile among NHS decision-makers, including chief executives, finance directors, and estates leads.

As a result, Darwin Group significantly increased their share of voice within the healthcare sector and established a credible position as experts in NHS estates and capacity solutions. Media relationships built through the programme have opened doors for ongoing coverage, and as the national conversation around NHS infrastructure continues, Darwin Group is now recognised as a trusted voice on the future of healthcare estates.

“Blue Lozenge’s deep knowledge of the NHS and health and care sector has been invaluable in helping us shape our media relations strategy and approach. They supported us to shift our messaging so it speaks directly to healthcare decision-makers and keeps patient needs at the centre.

“Their strategic PR guidance has raised our profile in the sector and helped us start meaningful conversations with key stakeholders across the NHS.”

Hayley Smith, Director of Strategy and Transformation at the Darwin Group

Putting patient experience at the heart of change

Summary

NHS England commissioned Blue Lozenge to deliver a patient journey mapping workshop to support the development of minimum communication standards for patients waiting for elective care. With over 7 million people on elective waiting lists, Blue Lozenge designed and facilitated a full-day workshop bringing together NHS England staff, stakeholders, and people with lived experience. Drawing on Blue Lozenge’s Navigation Pulse programme, the workshop covered patient understanding techniques, practical journey mapping, and action planning. Participants identified six key action areas and received immediate implementation resources including a journey mapping canvas and pathway analysis frameworks.

Building NHS England’s capacity for patient-centred elective care improvement

NHS England commissioned Blue Lozenge to deliver an introductory workshop on patient journey mapping methodology to support the development of minimum standards for patients waiting for elective care.

With over 7 million people on elective care waiting lists and 42% dissatisfied with communication during waits, NHS England’s national team needed practical understanding of journey mapping techniques and pathways for translating patient feedback into actionable service standards that could be implemented across the NHS and health carer sector.

Approach

We designed and facilitated a comprehensive full-day intensive workshop bringing together NHS England team members, stakeholders and people with lived experience of care. We used our Navigation Pulse programme to inform the workshop, developing the group’s understanding of how to listen to patients and how to use feedback to drive improvements. This included patient understanding techniques, practical journey mapping, and action planning. We included people with personal experience sharing with participants, which brought authenticity to theoretical frameworks.

Impact

The workshop successfully equipped the NHS England team with practical patient journey mapping skills and established a strategic foundation for transformative elective care improvement. Participants identified six key action areas including discovery research, data integration, administrative standardisation, organisational culture change, strategic focus, and policy development. The session provided immediate implementation resources including patient journey mapping canvas, insight principles, and pathway analysis frameworks, while creating a shared vision for patient-centred healthcare transformation that improves experience while enhancing system efficiency.

“These inputs have been a breath of fresh air and there is lots I can take back to my trust. Understanding the patient personas and data gaps – that was really helpful.”

NHS England Workshop Participant