We live tweet from all our Board meetings…. the good, the bad, the wonderful and the uncomfortable.
Some people, like Becky, seem to like this.
We storify every one, if you want to see an example, here’s the live tweeting from April that the consultant commented on:
https://storify.com/manickmanda/public-board-meeting-on-friday-8-april-2016
We’re not Jonathan Dimbleby, but for the last two years, as part of this, in the week leading up to every Board meeting we’ve been appealing for ‘Any Questions’ on social media.
Like almost every NHS Trust in the country, our board meeting starts with questions from the public.But, in reality, it’s usually a small number of questions from a few very committed members of the public who turn up to every meeting.
So, in January 2013, instead of expecting people to pitch up and ask a question or write a letter in, we decided to go to where people are and started using Twitter and Facebook to ask ‘Any Questions?’.
We’ve got pretty good followings on both Twitter and Facebook (9,500+ and 4,000+ respectively) and this therefore extends access to the leadership team to anyone with access to a social media account and an interest in Plymouth Hospitals.
In 2½ years we’ve had 24 questions via social media and 69 through people attending in person or writing in.
So it’s not changed the world yet, but it has broadened reach.What’s interesting is the sort of questions that are asked and the breadth of them – from patients and their relatives, staff, GPs, local businesses. They range from concerned patients worried about access to treatment to sustainable fishing …
@Derriford_Hosp How much time has each director spent on the wards observing what happens?
@PHNT_NHS why are you not able to carry out planned ops?
@Derriford_Hosp What do you think about new #juniorcontract & how it will negatively impact patient safety & doctor wellbeing?
@PHNT_NHS will you pledge your support to the @FishCities campaign? You're already meeting the requirements! ow.ly/KP1Db
Whatever the question, Chair @Rich_Crompton and @AnnJamesNHS ensure it gets put to the Board and answered …. and yes we did sign up for sustainable fishing.
@NickNickthomas @PHNT_NHS @FishCities @AnnJamesNHS @Rich_Crompton Thank you! 1.1 million sustainable fish dishes is fantastic for #Plymouth
Visible leadership doesn’t happen with one event, it happens incrementally. In a small way, using social media to live tweet Board meetings and inviting ‘Any Questions’, along with all of our Executive Directors using social media, has made the people who run our hospital just that little bit more accessible and accountable.