What we love about Putting the Digital Transformation of Leeds Pathology Department in the Spotlight

The aim of this project – shortlisted in the Excellence in Media Relations category – was to share the experience of the Leeds Pathology Team in implementing an end-to-end digital pathology service and ensure their recognition as a leader in the digital transformation of pathology in the UK.

We turned a routine Trust Board Meeting into a celebratory event – offering a unique behind the scenes tour of the department for carefully-targeted media and creating an opportunity for the Leeds team to inspire other hospitals to follow their impressive lead. We worked closely with the media to make sure their story was told in detail, not just as a short piece of news.

The results were awesome: we were proud to secure quality coverage in 14 different titles (targeted at pathology and hospital C-Suite audiences), a spot on the local BBC News bulletin and endorsement from the Royal College of Pathologists. The media attention even inspired Health Secretary Matt Hancock to include the Pathology Department in an already packed-out visit to Leeds the following week. 

Jon - What I loved about this project:

I loved putting myself in the shoes of the different journalists we were targeting and thinking about what they needed to make this a story for their readers. The Communications Team at the hospital were great and we put our heads together to think about the angles that would appeal to different media and how we could package the story in the right way to get them to write in depth about how the pathology department had made the transition to digital, not just celebrate the fact they had done it. The highlight for me was The Biomedical Scientist deciding to make their next edition the ‘digital’ edition and making this story their front cover with in-depth articles from three members of the team from Leeds.

Kirsty - What I loved about this project:

This was the first time this client had done something like this. They put their confidence in us to deliver and we did. We worked quickly and collaboratively to pull it together in a very short time, and we were all proud of the results. A true partnership based on trust!