Transforming staff into charity advocates

Transforming staff into champions for Milton Keynes Hospital Charity’s 30th birthday

Milton Keynes Hospital Charity celebrated its 30th birthday in July 2025. Across these 30 years, the charity has helped to fund projects such as the £1 million cancer centre and lifesaving BabyLeo incubators. The charity has had a large impact on the hospital, but due to limited resources it was relatively unknown to its most powerful advocates, the hospital staff. The charity asked us to support and drive meaningful engagement which would hopefully lead to fundraising success.

large impact on the hospital, but due to limited resources it was relatively unknown to its most powerful advocates, the hospital staff. The charity asked us to support and drive meaningful engagement which would hopefully lead to fundraising success.

Approach

To understand how much was known about the charity and its presence within the hospital, we conducted interviews and surveys with staff across the hospital. The findings showed that 72% of staff had limited knowledge of the charity and what it did within the hospital. Our team also noticed a lack of physical presence during their visit to the hospital. Whilst other charities and teams had vinyl graphics and posters displayed around the hospital, Milton Keynes Hospital Charity did not. This was a missed opportunity to reach busy staff, patients, and relatives who walk hospital corridors day in and day out.

Using these insights, Blue Lozenge developed a digital communications campaign for the charity’s 30th birthday named ’30 Years Unwrapped’ that aimed to increase staff and the local communities’ knowledge and awareness of the charity. We also created a bespoke brand pack that the team could use to create stickers, vinyl graphics, and posters to place around the hospital to highlight the fantastic work it does and how they can get involved.

This strategy was designed to align with the charity’s three-year plan of boosting income, diversifying fundraising, and strengthening stakeholder ties.

Impact

A bespoke digital campaign highlighting the impactful stories behind the charity’s fundraising over the last 30 years was launched in the run-up to Christmas, and the brand pack will be implemented by the charity team throughout 2026. More on the impact of our work will be coming soon!

Vanessa Holmes, Associate Director at Milton Keynes Charity said:

“We at Milton Keynes Hospital Charity have thoroughly enjoyed working with Blue Lozenge. Understanding that we’re a small team, they’ve supported us so well from the discovery phase to delivery. Knowing how the NHS and NHS charities work, the team really came through and researched, created and produced an amazing anniversary campaign for us to encourage donations and engagement. We would absolutely work with Blue Lozenge again and would highly recommend them to any NHS org or charity needing support with communications.”

If you would like help to run a campaign, contact us at: hello@bluelozenge.co.uk

Targeted digital campaigns for MMR uptake

How we helped Reading Borough Council increase vaccine uptake using search marketing and social media advertising

Reading Borough Council needed to increase MMR vaccination rates among children in the borough. While overall confidence in vaccines remained high, our research found some groups were more hesitant to get vaccinated.

Through our research and knowledge of the borough we developed an approach that addressed the World Health Organisations ‘3 C’s’ of vaccine hesitancy: confidence, complacency and convenience. The goal was to encourage parents, grandparents and those with parental responsibility to check the vaccination status of children in their care and book appointments if they found their child was not up to date with their MMR vaccinations.

Approach

At Blue Lozenge we developed a paid social media campaign that ran from April to August 2024 which targeted our key audiences and utilised national messaging that resonated with our local audience:

Reactive search marketing our research highlighted that people in Reading were searching for information about the MMR vaccination over 15,000 times a month but often they were being directed to websites where the information was not evidence-based. Using our approach, we redirected those searching for this information directly to the NHS website away from misinformation towards trusted, accessible vaccine safety content.  We targeted specific search terms related to measles symptoms, MMR vaccines and vaccine safety, appearing at the top of Google search results when parents and guardians were actively seeking information.

Proactive social media advertising we targeted local areas with lower vaccine uptake using messages that emphasised the dangers of measles, the safety of the MMR vaccine and practical steps for booking appointments. We used this approach after testing with our key audiences.  The campaign ran on Facebook and Instagram as our insight showed that this is predominantly where our target audience was consuming information.

Throughout the campaign, we monitored performance and adjusted targeting to improve results. For example, during week six, we identified an unusually high number of 18–24-year-olds searching for measles information, potentially reflecting a local outbreak amongst young adults. We created tailored messaging for this demographic, which improved click-through rates.

Impact

Our ads were seen over 1 million times across the different channels, and they generated more than 7,300 clicks to the NHS vaccine information pages. Data collected by Reading Borough Council from May to October 2024 showed that vaccine uptake in Reading rose from 85% to 87.5%. This steady upward trend aligns with the campaign period.

The search terms data revealed the types of information parents were seeking, from basic queries about measles symptoms to specific questions about vaccine safety, side effects and outbreak information. This insight enabled us to ensure our messaging addressed genuine parental concerns and connected them with trusted NHS content.

Do you need help reaching specific audiences with targeted digital advertising campaigns? We can design and deliver campaigns that connect people with the services and information they need. Contact us at hello@bluelozenge.co.uk

 

 

Targeted care recruitment campaign

Summary

Bexley Wellbeing Partnership (BWP), representing 17 local organisations, commissioned Blue Lozenge to address carer workforce shortages through a targeted recruitment campaign. Blue Lozenge developed a five-week, multi-channel campaign aimed at three demographic groups: mothers with school-age children, school leavers, and men aged 20–39. Messaging was tailored to each group, with delivery across paid search, Meta platforms, outdoor advertising, and partner toolkits. The campaign exceeded engagement expectations while maximising a limited budget. Partner toolkits provided BWP with reusable legacy materials for ongoing recruitment activity beyond the campaign period.

Addressing workforce shortages through targeted recruitment campaign

Bexley Wellbeing Partnership (BWP), who represent 17 local partner organisations, faced significant carer workforce shortages and needed to run a recruitment campaign targeting underrepresented groups within the caring workforce. They wanted to showcase a distinct local identity while positively positioning careers in care, attracting new people to the profession, encouraging applications, and signposting to Care Jobs Open Week.

Approach

At Blue Lozenge we designed a five-week campaign targeting three core demographic groups with tailored messaging:

  • Mums with school-age children (emphasising flexibility)
  • School leavers (highlighting career prospects without tertiary education requirements)
  • Men aged 20-39 (challenging gender stereotypes in care)

We developed a core narrative and messaging framework, creating benefit-led key messages for each demographic, and selecting diverse visual content to reflect Bexley’s community. We deployed multi-channel delivery through paid search targeting job-related keywords, paid socials via Meta platforms with audience segmentation, outdoor advertising with QR codes in high-footfall areas, and partner toolkits for stakeholder amplification.

Impact

The campaign successfully used data and insight to determine where the limited budget should be spent to maximise value for money. This informed strategy was successful and led to ad engagement that surpassed expectations. The toolkits that were developed for this campaign meant that the BWP had legacy material that could be used after the campaign was finished to ensure ongoing engagement.

“Blue Lozenge are experts in the field of NHS communications and have a wealth of knowledge across the sector. Their fantastic team of communications experts have helped us with planning strategic away days with internal colleagues as well as large-scale recruitment campaigns. They are professional, beyond helpful and have worked with us to successfully land key messaging with underserved communities and helped us to engage with colleagues after lockdown came to an end by facilitating constructive and well received away days. I cannot recommend Rachel and her team enough.”

Aysha Awan, Head of Communications and Engagement — Bexley, NHS South East London Integrated Care Board

Helping Lewisham residents access primary care services

Summary

South East London Integrated Care Board (SEL ICB) commissioned Blue Lozenge to raise awareness of primary care services among Lewisham residents, including the NHS app and pharmacy services. Blue Lozenge developed a targeted, multichannel campaign incorporating a photoshoot featuring local primary care staff, custom digital assets, a stakeholder toolkit, a two-week paid digital advertising campaign, and an A4 leaflet. The campaign reached approximately 10% of Lewisham’s population, with peak engagement among women aged 35–44 and 65 and over. Campaign assets provided SEL ICB with reusable materials for ongoing community engagement.

Informing residents of primary care services using targeted communications

South East London Integrated Care Board (SEL ICB) wanted a campaign to inform the local residents of Lewisham about the range of primary care services available to access. A targeted and localised communications campaign was needed to increase awareness of primary care services and digital resources, including the NHS app and pharmacy services.

Approach

Blue Lozenge collaborated with SEL ICB to create a targeted, multichannel communications campaign. We focused on creating accessible, community-centred content that would resonate with the residents of Lewisham. Our approach combined strategic planning, authentic visual storytelling, and targeted digital advertising.

We began by ensuring that messaging aligned with Lewisham’s specific community needs. We then ran a one-day photoshoot featuring real Lewisham primary care staff bringing authenticity to the campaign by capturing the diverse workforce behind local healthcare services.

Over the course of the campaign, we also:

  • Created custom-designed digital assets to be used across social media, websites and digital screens
  • Developed a comprehensive stakeholder toolkit to share with partners in the community
  • Ran a strategic two-week paid digital advertising campaign targeting Lewisham residents
  • Designed an A4 leaflet for Lewisham residents.

Impact

The campaign achieved strong reach and engagement, connecting with approximately 10% of Lewisham’s population. Peak engagement occurred between 5pm and 7pm with females aged 65+ and between 35 and 44 being the engaging the most.

The suite of campaign assets and photographs of local staff provided SEL ICB with a toolkit for ongoing community engagement beyond this project.

Ready to reach your audience with an impactful campaign?

Contact our team today to discuss how we can create an insight driven, creative, and targeted campaign to support your organisation’s objectives.

Email: hello@bluelozenge.co.uk

Improving primary care communication

Summary

Blue Lozenge worked with One Care, the largest GP Federation in the UK, and Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board to deliver a public communication and engagement campaign explaining changes to primary care services following COVID-19 digital transformation. Blue Lozenge developed integrated creative assets informed by evidence and insight, sourcing real patient and workforce case studies. The campaign was delivered across social media, public relations, and out-of-home advertising including buses to reach digitally excluded audiences. The campaign generated over 630,000 views on Facebook and Instagram and more than one million YouTube ad impressions.

An integrated campaign to help primary care communicate with their local populations more effectively

Across the NHS, and especially for primary care, COVID-19 was a catalyst for digital transformation and change. The way that patients and populations communicated with their care provider and how they received care changed enormously. The pace of that change meant that there was a lag in genuine engagement with local populations and the workforce.

Blue Lozenge worked with One Care to support primary care organisations across Bristol, North, Somerset and South Gloucestershire with a communication and engagement campaign that sought to provide the public with reassurance and explain these changes.

Approach

Blue Lozenge supported One Care, the largest GP Federation in the UK, and Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board with their campaign to improve public understanding of the changing roles in primary care. We developed a fully integrated campaign and creative assets, based on evidence and insight. We sourced real life case studies for the campaign from across the Integrated Care System liaising with patients and the workforce. We told the story of how primary care is changing from the patient’s perspective. 

 
We aligned the campaign to national creatives and plans, reinforcing national messaging and developed bespoke assets to engage the local population in a meaningful way that resonated with them. In addition to the creative development, we managed the campaign delivery across several channels including social media, public relations and out-of-home advertising. Using an integrated approach helped to ensure we met the needs of all our audiences including the digitally excluded. 

Outcome

We created some excellent stories that resonated with the local community, on social media we drove traffic to a specific campaign website and received over 630,000 views on our Facebook and Instagram profiles and over 1 million ad impressions on YouTube. We used out-of-home advertising, specifically on buses, to reach the digitally excluded population. The team now also have numerous creative assets to use for future communication activities and campaigns. 

 

 

Helping GP practices communicate effectively

Summary

West Essex CCG commissioned Blue Lozenge to address rising patient queries and negative feedback about GP access during winter 2021. Blue Lozenge conducted communications health checks at five priority surgeries, developed ten key recommendations, and produced a comprehensive toolkit including animated videos, graphics, print materials, voicemail scripts, and social media assets. Additional support included practice website transformation guidance and lunch and learn sessions for practice managers. The project provided West Essex CCG with a sustainable communications framework to improve patient engagement across multiple channels while supporting practice teams under operational pressure.

Strategic communications support to improve primary care patient engagement

Across West Essex GP practices experienced rising queries and negative feedback about access to face-to-face appointments during winter 2021. The national focus on primary care access added to existing operational pressures. The local health and care system needed to develop effective channels to signpost patients to appropriate care, help practices engage patients more effectively across multiple channels, and create messaging that increased awareness and understanding of existing services.

Approach towards improving GP communications

Blue Lozenge developed a comprehensive strategy targeting both individual practices and local populations. Our work included:

  • communications ‘health checks’ at five priority surgeries to understand current opportunities and issues
  • ten key recommendations to help primary care engage effectively with patients
  • a comprehensive communications toolkit including animated videos, graphics, print materials, voicemail scripts and social media assets
  • practice website transformation guidance focusing on content, structure, navigation and user experience
  • ‘lunch and learn’ sessions for practice managers covering key communications areas

Our approach balanced immediate practice needs with building sustainable communications capabilities across the West Essex health and care system, ensuring recommendations were realistic given operational pressures.

Impact

The project delivered practical solutions that enhanced primary care communications across West Essex making a real difference to the primary care workforce and local residents.

The strategic interventions provided West Essex CCG with a sustainable approach to primary care communications that directly addressed patient feedback whilst supporting practice teams under pressure.

“We really valued the hands on support of the Blue Lozenge team. Their understanding of the health and care landscape is exceptional. They are positive and optimistic and their willingness to get out and about face-to-face and meet our clinical teams to genuinely understand their communication needs was incredibly helpful. We will be using their insight and recommendations to inform our future planning.”

Ian Tompkins, Director of Communication, West Essex

Local NHS campaign: improving healthcare access 

Summary

South East London Integrated Care Board and Bexley Wellbeing Partnership commissioned Blue Lozenge to develop a targeted campaign helping Bexley’s 245,000 residents navigate NHS services and reduce pressure on emergency care. Blue Lozenge created the ‘Better Access Bexley’ campaign, comprising four phased campaigns over six months promoting the NHS App, GP services, evening appointments, and Pharmacy First. Delivery channels included out-of-home advertising, partner toolkits, and distribution to 100,000 homes. The campaign achieved a 79% increase in Pharmacy First self-referrals, a 47% increase in NHS App downloads, and 2 million out-of-home impressions.

A targeted campaign helping Bexley residents to better understand how to access services

Despite increased NHS funding, emergency services remain overwhelmed with patients who could be treated elsewhere. National communications about alternative care options are not always effectively reaching or influencing local residents. South East London Integrated Care Board and Bexley Wellbeing Partnership needed to cut through this noise with targeted messaging that would resonate with its 245,000 residents and redirect them to appropriate services. 

Approach

Blue Lozenge partnered with the NHS South East London Bexley team to create ‘Better Access Bexley’ – a series of four targeted campaigns featuring local residents and NHS staff: 

Over the course of six months we: 

  • Created a unified visual identity for ‘Better Access Bexley’ to build recognition 
  • Developed place-specific messaging tailored to Bexley’s unique context 
  • Produced campaigns promoting the NHS App, evening/Saturday GP appointments, GP team services, and Pharmacy First 
  • Used strategic out-of-home advertising with trackable QR codes at commuter hotspots 
  • Distributed comprehensive toolkits to partner organisations for multi-channel deployment 
  • Phased campaign activation to coincide with seasonal NHS pressures 

Our strategy was informed by existing research revealing that residents didn’t understand which services suited their needs, and many emergency visits required no investigation. By featuring local healthcare professionals and Bexley-specific messaging, we created more relatable and effective communications. 

Impact

The campaign delivered exceptional results that far exceeded targets: 

  • 79% increase in Pharmacy First self-referrals (target: 10%) 
  • 47% increase in NHS App downloads (target: 5%) 
  • 10%+ increase in NHS App interactions (repeat prescriptions, appointments) 
  • 2 million impressions from out-of-home advertising 
  • 274% increase in website visits July – December 2024 
  • Distribution to 100,000 homes via Bexley Winter Wellbeing magazine 

The campaign has started to change resident behaviour, their understanding of local NHS services and how they access these services. These were key aims and also helped to ease pressure on A&E services, by signposting people to more appropriate care.

Aysha Awan, Head of Communications and Engagement, NHS South-East London, Bexley Wellbeing Partnership.