Media monitoring is vital at the Medical Centre Leeuwarden

Of course, as a communication expert, you want to be the first to know what is being said about your hospital. For Leanne Wink-Miedema, having a helicopter view is important in order to do her job properly. Anticipating on certain keywords helps with this. Leanne:

“Of course I want to know what is being said about the Medical Centre Leeuwarden and what is going on in society. That’s why I monitor this on a daily basis, so I can respond quickly, if necessary.”

The communication team of the MCL consists of five communication advisors and two communication employees. If there is a crisis, everyone has their own tasks. The team then temporarily consists of a spokesperson, a press officer, an environmental analyst, a webcare employee, a patient information officer and a crisis coordinator. The environment analyst makes a report based on keywords and links the report, including advice, back to the team and the crisis coordinator. Leanne: “We have to be able to perform the six different roles within the team at all times. That’s why we often practice crisis situations during training sessions and fictitious cases. Within the team we alternate roles, so if someone is on holiday, someone else can fill their place”.

Three years ago, when an adjacent building was on fire, this method proved to be successful. “The smoke came our way and this had a large influence on the air ventilation within the hospital. We could not perform surgeries in the OR, because our air ventilation system had to be shut off. Thanks to the media monitoring and reports, we were able to provide quick feedback to the crisis coordinator and act where necessary.”

The MCL has an older target group, mainly people aged 65 years and older. “We mainly reach this target group via Facebook and our website. Twitter also plays a role, for example when there are political questions. When there’s really something going on, people mainly write about it on Facebook”, Leanne explains. The webcare employee mostly has to do with responses on social media, and the webcare department also posts messages on the website and responds to incoming questions.

A good example that boosted the image of the MCL was when the hospital became the first hospital in the Netherlands to become completely smoke-free. An omnichannel campaign on the website, social media channels and PR created a wide reach. The hashtag #rookvrijmcl (#smokefreemcl) was added to all outbound messages to measure the impact of the hashtag. Leanne organised the messaging around the campaign, monitored responses and produced reports on the campaign’s reach. This enabled her to anticipate questions:

“We worked on our image, because we were on top of the situation. Every day I made a report based on the relevant keywords and I linked the status back to the team and the stakeholders, like the Board of Directors. On social media the webcare would mostly direct their attention to the supporters of a smoke-free MCL, so that the followers actually became a kind of ambassadors for the initiative. Thanks to the reports, we were able to communicate in a very controlled way and work on our image proactively.”

In order to know what’s going on in the world of healthcare, Leanne follows other hospitals in the region and of course the news about healthcare in general. As far as reporting is concerned, she tries to plan as much as possible on the social media channels and always weighs up what would and wouldn’t suit a top clinical hospital. But sometimes you also just need a bit of luck:

“We always try to find interesting things to write about. For example, swimmer Maarten van der Weijden visited our hospital a while ago. Of course, we had a bit of luck with that!”

Een bijzondere dag op het OCL. Maarten v/d Weijden kwam langs om het door de Stichting Roparun geschonken koppelbed te bewonderen. Wanneer mensen ziek zijn of niet meer bij elkaar kunnen wonen, is nabijheid belangrijker dan ooit. Dank Roparun en Maarten voor je komst! #koppelbed pic.twitter.com/QW0u8yM2XP

— Medisch Centrum Leeuwarden (@MCLeeuwarden) November 23, 2019

Another great initiative is ‘de knuffelpoli’ (‘the cuddle clinic’). Children of 6/7 years old are allowed to take their sick stuffed animal to the hospital, where a team of residents is ready to make the stuffed toy all better again. “It’s great to bring a smile on the faces of 1200 children and it is also a great social purpose. This year the fourteenth edition will take place. The ‘knuffelpoli’ is also great for the PR value of the MCL. Children speak about it to their parents and friends, and in turn they tell others about it. There’s more to it than just a successful event.”

The image, reputation and brand value of the MCL are important aspects for Leanne to continue to analyse. Media monitoring is therefore very important. “If I wouldn’t have the monitoring tool, I wouldn’t be aware of what is going on in society right now. Then I’d only be able to act when there’s already something going on, instead of preventing a situation before it becomes a problem. Monitoring helps you to get good insights, guard your image and work on your reputation.”

Of course, stakeholders are also important when it comes to reporting on the latest state of affairs. The MCL Board of Directors wants to see figures and data, and attaches great importance to that. Leanne: “I can’t go to our Board of Directors and say that I have a feeling that there are issues in the healthcare department. This has to be based on something. Now I can hand them reports, which gives you a little more power and a better position as a communications consultant”.

Lastly, Leanne herself examines the brand value of the MCL compared to other hospitals. “I want this to increase every quarter, because this proves that things are going well. If that is not the case, I want to know why that is. Did we perhaps not anticipate enough? This way I always analyse my own work as well.”

Leanne advises other healthcare institutions to use all the options there are.

“Make it easy on yourself! And also make use of the knowledge and people of Spotler Engage. The reports give us tools with which we can hand over serious data to our Board of Directors. Moreover, always schedule your messages. This way you can also make time for important things. I always say; tools are there to support you, so make them work for you!”