The challenge

The National Guardian’s Office (NGO) was a non-statutory body in England that led culture change across the NHS. It supported a network of over 1,500 Freedom to Speak Up Guardian’s employed within NHS organisations, independent sector providers, hospices and national bodies. Following the recommendations of the Dash review (July 2025), the NGO was preparing to close, therefore recruiting into their communication team was not viable. Blue Lozenge was appointed to provide a communication service until the closure – removing the need to recruit into posts that would be subject to redundancy or change.

Our approach

We became an extension of the NGO team, acting as their comms function until they closed. We were responsible for:

• Internal communication and engagement
• Media relations and reputation management
• Events and campaigns
• Digital and social media management
• Bulletins and newsletters
• Stakeholder relations and public affairs

Due to our knowledge and expertise across government and NHS communication, we were able to hit the ground running and provide strategic and tactical communication expertise. We maintained the communication programme that engaged the network of over 1,500 Guardian’s nationally, including the National Conference, supporting the publication of thought leadership and data releases and all other external communication channels.

We were an active member of the leadership team, providing strategic counsel and advice. Additionally, we handled media enquiries, and prepared quotes and briefings for spokespeople ahead of media activity and public speaking.

The impact

Throughout the period we provided positive, professional, objective and constructive communication support, which is sometimes difficult to achieve when organisations are closing and going through significant change. We maintained and improved the engagement across our channels throughout this time and carefully transitioned the work into its new home. Stakeholders, partner organisations and the guardian network received consistent updates throughout the closure, helping maintain confidence in the organisation in this period of change. Internal and external communications continued up until the closure of the NGO.

Testimonial

“Working with Blue Lozenge has been overwhelmingly positive. The team is proactive, organised, and easy to work with, and their strategic approach added real value throughout. They understood the complexities of our situation and navigated them with real skill, flagging issues early and pushing back when needed. It felt like a genuine partnership from start to finish.”

Tom Grimes, NHS England

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Challenge

NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board (BNSSG ICB) needed help to involve children and young people in co-producing a vision and ambition for their children’s community health services. This vision and ambition would be a key part of the procurement pack used to commission future community health services.

BNSSG ICB wanted to reach children and young people across their three local areas, ensuring they heard the voices of those who are often less heard.

Approach – How Blue Lozenge addressed the challenge

We used our 4-step approach and ensured that the voices of children and young people were at the centre of our work:

We began by conducting desk research and talking to local partners to map existing youth engagement in the area. We also worked with partners and the ICB to understand more about children and young people who live and access services across the BSSG patch and what barriers there were currently to accessing children’s community health services. Using this insight we then established a youth co-production group with young people who had lived experience of the community health services in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. This group helped us to events that would engaging and helpful to children and young people and shared their opinions on outputs from these events.

Our engagement strategy focused on creative and accessible methods which gave every child and young person we spoke to the opportunity to express their views meaningfully. Everything we heard and read was drawn together and used to inform the co-creation of a children and young people’s vision and ambition for their community health services.

Throughout this project, our core message was that children and young people are experts in their own healthcare, and their voices are fundamental to shaping the services designed to support them.

Impact

Throughout February and March 2026, we engaged more than 75 children and young people, aged 8 to 25, across the three local areas. We attended events at youth clubs, play centres, schools, and youth boards. We spoke to those with SEND, mental health needs, those in the care system and those from low-income and ethnic minority backgrounds.

Their insights were translated and analysed into a report, a visual vision and ambition and a 2-minute film. All of these outputs capture their vision for future children’s community health services in their own words. These outputs fed directly into two Theory of Change workshops with BNSSG ICB commissioners and system partners, helping to shape the framework that will inform the future procurement of children’s community health service.

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Reading Borough Council wanted to make it easier for residents to quit smoking. The council had signed up to the Smoke Free app, a clinically proven digital stop smoking tool to sit alongside its existing face-to-face services.

Not everyone can make it to an in-person appointment. Shift workers, parents and people with busy lives often miss out on support. The council needed a launch campaign to reach those people and get them downloading the new Smoke Free App.

Our approach

We built the campaign around our existing ‘Better Than a Smoke Break’ creative and messaging which was developed in response to insights that smokers see smoking as a ‘break’ from their busy lives. Instead of leading with health warnings, it meets people in the moment they reach for a cigarette and shows them what quitting could give them back: more money and more time with the people they love.

We adapted the creative assets for Facebook and Instagram and designed a printed A5 leaflet for distribution across Reading. This creative featured real-life testimonials from people who had used the app. We also wrote key messages and social copy for the council’s own channels, and a two-week paid META campaign ran during May targeting residents in Reading.

Impact

In its first week, the campaign reached 35,741 people in Reading and generated 1,608 link clicks from 241,769 impressions. The average cost per click was just £0.18 – strong value for a local, geographically targeted campaign.

We closely monitored how our creative assets were performing and adapted where needed. During the second week we created a carousel, and it made a real difference. After it launched, the click-through rate doubled from 0.54% to 1.08%, cost per click dropped from £0.19 to £0.16, and the same ads started reaching more people more often. The carousel alone drove 429 clicks.

“”Working with Blue Lozenge was easy and efficient from start to finish. We’ve already made huge progress in supporting residents to quit smoking, with rates falling below 10% for the first time, and their support helped us tell that story with real impact.”

Oluwatumininu Owa Public Health Program Officer (Stop Smoking and Tobacco Control), Reading Borough Council.

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

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerrybknight/

Kerry Knight

Kerry Knight is a crisis communications specialist and AI governance adviser who helps boards and leaders prepare for reputation risk and the responsible use of AI.
A Chartered PR Practitioner, she holds a specialist certificate in AI Foundations for Business Professionals from the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School.

Kerry works with organisations navigating AI-related reputation risk, translating complex risk landscapes into clear, actionable plans. She publishes Signals & Soapboxes, a weekly briefing on the risks most organisations are not yet ready for.

Kerry serves on the CIPR’s Crisis Communication Network committee. She is also a 2026 Independent Impact 50 Award recipient.

Blue Lozenge

https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottpjackson/

Scott Jackson

Scott is a content strategist and business leader with more than 25 years of experience helping organisations tell better stories, engage their audiences and navigate change. He leads Thira Consulting, working with leaders to use AI, content and communication to create clarity and momentum across their organisations.

What drives his interest in generative AI is not the technology itself, but the opportunity it creates, turning expertise into something people can understand, share and act on. His work focuses on practical AI use to improve communication, create more valuable content and make better use of the knowledge organisations already have.

Scott is also the founder of Eddy, a non-profit using podcasts and shared stories to support fathers navigating grief, disability and life’s toughest transitions.

Blue Lozenge

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Our team’s CPD takes many forms, from formal training to listening to podcasts and even hosting sector events. We make sure that CPD is a core part of how we work and our team’s development.

This commitment was reinforced during a recent session with Liam Taylor, Senior Corporate Account Executive at the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), who explored how our team can make the most of our CIPR membership over the coming year. The session highlighted how much we are already doing and helped us to identify new ways we can gain CPD points and maintain our accreditation.

CIPR accreditation is a professional standard. For our clients, it means the people working on their projects are held to a recognised code of conduct, grounded in ethical practice and current thinking.

Maddie Pinkham, Client Services Lead, said:

“Healthcare is a sensitive space. Our clients need to know the people we have working on their communications are held to a professional standard. CIPR accreditation gives them that assurance.”

“This commitment reflects our core values, putting our people first and being data-driven, ensuring our work is both ethical and informed by evidence and insight.”

If you’re looking for strategic healthcare communication expertise to design and deliver your next campaign, view our services and get in touch hello@bluelozenge.co.uk

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Skye Stephens joins as a content creator apprentice and Aaron Clarke as a PR and media apprentice.

In joining the Blue Lozenge team, they will work with agency clients across a wide portfolio of NHS, local authority, partnership body and private sector organisations.

Skye has previously worked in a creative marketing agency and is interested in simplifying and explaining complex topics through content creation.

Aaron has gained work experience with Sky Sports and is interested in engaging storytelling and the development of impactful campaigns.

Our client services lead, Madeleine Pinkham, said:

We are committed to developing the next generation of talent and making sure people have real opportunities to learn, grow and contribute to the profession.

Right now, there is a lot of concern across the corporate communications and creative industries about the talent pipeline, particularly the threat to junior roles from AI. Entry-level opportunities matter because of that: for the candidates themselves, and for the fresh thinking and creativity they bring into how we work. As a Bromley-based business, we are also glad to be supporting local young people in building their careers and contributing to the local economy.

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We are proud to announce that Blue Lozenge has been awarded White Ribbon UK accreditation, affirming our commitment to ending violence against women and girls and building a culture of genuine gender equality within our organisation.

White Ribbon UK is the leading charity in England and Wales engaging men and boys in preventing violence against women and girls. Its accreditation programme recognises organisations that are willing to commit to a structure three-year action plan to drive real cultural change across the organisation.

For us, this accreditation reflects values that have defined our agency since it started. We have built our reputation around communications that help people and patients. Working alongside Kent and Medway Violence Reduction Unit, we are committed to reducing violence in our communities, especially against women and girls.

Our Chief Executive Rachel Royall said:

White Ribbon UK is the leading charity in England and Wales engaging men and boys in preventing violence against women and girls. Its accreditation programme recognises organisations that are willing to commit to a structure three-year action plan to drive real cultural change across the organisation.

For us, this accreditation reflects values that have defined our agency since it started. We have built our reputation around communications that help people and patients. Working alongside Kent and Medway Violence Reduction Unit, we are committed to reducing violence in our communities, especially against women and girls.

We recognise that as a communications agency working in health, we have both the responsibility and the platform to contribute meaningfully to this cause. We are glad to be joining the hundreds of organisations across England and Wales that are already part of the White Ribbon movement.

To find out more about White Ribbon UK and accreditation, visit White Ribbon UK

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The challenge

For too long, patients harmed by pelvic mesh and the medicine valproate have been waiting for a Government response to a report by the Patient Safety Commissioner, Professor Henrietta Hughes. The Hughes Report, published in February 2024, followed earlier advice in October 2023, examining the harm caused to an estimated 10,000 women, and their families, affected by these interventions. On the second anniversary of her report publication, the Patient Safety Commissioner wanted support to significantly raise the profile of her enquiry to the Government about their intended response. As Professor Hughes said: “Patients’ lives don’t grind to a halt while Government departments debate jurisdiction and timelines.”

The strategy

The Patient Safety Commissioner had previously spent time lobbying Government ministers, writing to and meeting them, asking for an update on the steps taken by ministers and officials to respond to the report and its ten recommendations on redress. Despite receiving some acknowledgements during this time, no commitment to action had been obtained. In February 2026, Professor Hughes took the call for action to Number 10 Downing Street, supported by our public relations campaign.

Approach

A carefully planned media strategy was developed and delivered which achieved media coverage across national broadsheets, broadcast and healthcare journals. The strategy aimed to highlight the need for the Government to agree a concrete timeline for both financial and non-financial redress. In support, we developed social media content, articulating a clear message around a complex issue. We stayed in constant touch with the Patient Safety Commissioner as responses began to come through from the corridors of power, updating the statements accordingly.

Alongside our targeted public relations activity on marking the report anniversary, we supported the Patient Safety Commissioner with complementary work on a brand re-fresh of the corporate presentation slides, identification of events and speaking opportunities, and the development of web and social media content, including Canva assets, to help maintain the profile of the PSC office.

Impact

Our media work around the Hughes Report second anniversary delivered significant cut-through – achieving coverage across the Sunday Times, ITV, Guardian, BMJ and Pharmaceutical Journal, reaching an estimated 3.5 million people. In support, two posts by the Commissioner on LinkedIn gained 9,000 impressions, 190 likes/reactions, 11 comments and 24 reposts. The campaign successfully positioned the Commissioner’s call for concrete Government action on redress.

“The Blue Lozenge team all worked very hard in support of my call for redress, clarifying and amplifying the message. I am hopeful that this oxygen of publicity will at some point very soon help achieve the response we need and the implementation of all the report’s vital recommendations. As I said within my statement, I will not stop holding Government to account until this is resolved for the patients and families harmed.” – Professor Henrietta Hughes, Patient Safety Commissioner

If you need support with public relations and campaign communications management, contact us at hello@bluelozenge.co.uk

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Jill brings more than three decades of transformative leadership in the NHS, including 11 years as Managing Director of King’s Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre.

Throughout her distinguished career, Jill has mobilised clinical excellence, developed innovative partnership models and spearheaded major health data and population health initiatives. Through senior level healthcare roles and as a seasoned executive coach, Jill empowers leaders across health, tech and life sciences.

As founder of SHINE Executive Coaching and Consultancy Ltd, Jill drives strategic partnerships and talent development. A graduate of the INSEAD Global Women Leaders programme, Jill’s impact spans the UK and global health, always championing innovation, collaboration and the improvement of health outcomes.

Jill said: “I am thrilled to be joining Blue Lozenge as a member of the Strategic Advisory Board. I will be looking to bring insights from a career driving high-impact pathway redesign, life sciences partnerships, strategic and governance design, executive coaching and board support. It will be wonderful to align the vision and values of SHINE ECC and Blue Lozenge, working with their outstanding team, led so impressively by Rachel.”

Blue Lozenge founder and Chief Executive, Rachel Royal, commented:

“I’m delighted to have Jill on board. Our Strategic Advisory Board does a brilliant job of helping us develop our strategy and ensuring we remain relevant to our clients. Jill’s knowledge and expertise will be central to progressing our work, in particular our focus on using strategic communication and engagement to improve patient pathways, reduce waiting times and make a real difference to care. Her breadth of healthcare experience, combined with her skills in executive coaching and leadership, will further strengthen our board’s ability to guide the next phase of our service development and growth.”

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