NHS Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB commissioned the collaborative Communications and Engagement service from NHS Arden & GEM and NHS Midlands & Lancashire CSUs to support with delivering their annual report for 2023/24.
A dedicated Editorial Manager oversaw the project including regular meetings with key ICB stakeholders, a thorough review of content and liaison with creative colleagues to ensure an engaging and accessible format. The subsequent annual report was completed on time and to a high standard with positive feedback received from both the ICB and the NHS England Regional team.
The challenge
Each year, the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) issues a Group Accounting Manual, templates and checklists for NHS bodies with a statutory requirement to produce annual reports and accounts to ensure international and HM Treasury reporting standards are adhered to.
There are often a few small changes from one year to the next, but the changes for 2023/24 were more significant as ICBs replaced CCGs. The turnaround timescales were also tight with NHS England Regional teams expected to receive a draft submission in April 2024, with final annual reports and accounts submitted in June 2024.
This statutory document is a high priority for the ICB but it can be difficult to do the substantial work required and meet the deadlines while also delivering the day-to-day priorities. The CSUs had provided this service to the six Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in the area for many years, but this was the first 12-month annual report for the recently-formed ICB.
Our approach
An Editorial Manager who was already familiar with the ICB and experienced in delivering annual reports was assigned to this project – providing an end-to-end service from editorial planning through to formatting and accessibility checks.
Stakeholder management
Regular meetings with the ICB’s key governance, finance and communications leads began in December. These were crucial – enabling updates to be shared, risks to be flagged, and regularly assuring ICB colleagues that the document was progressing as it should. This small working group agreed checklists, milestones and approvals.
"I think it has gone well and having the regular catchups with governance and comms really helped to keep us on track and deliver to time."
David Skelton, Financial Controller, NHS Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB
Collating and editing content
A Communications and Engagement Manager from the ICB acted as the key contact to collate content from the various leads and to arrange signoffs.
The majority of the content was received in one key week, requiring the Editorial Manager to review the copy against the guidance and ensure its inclusion in the correct part of the template. This was due to an imminent meeting of the Non-Executive Directors which was an opportunity to receive feedback on the content and provide assurance of the progress made.
A thorough proofread at a later date ensured a consistent tone of voice and style throughout. For quality assurance, an Editorial Specialist (who was also familiar with the ICB) completed a second proofread when the content was closer to the final version. All instances of jargon and acronyms were explained when they first appeared in the document and were also added to an appendix of acronyms.
All queries raised during the editorial checks – including the accuracy of proper nouns, dates and hyperlinks – were resolved through close working between the CSU Editorial Manager and ICB Communications Manager.
Applying an engaging and vibrant format
A branded template was produced by the CSU Campaigns, Creative and Digital team to make the document more engaging and vibrant. This included:
- standard heading styles, bullet points, charts and graphs
- presenting case studies, award successes and key figures in coloured boxes
- providing appropriate high-resolution images from the photo library.
The Campaigns, Creative and Digital team also completed accessibility checks on the 180-page document to ensure that the version published on the ICB website meets Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
Outcomes
The NHS Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB Annual Report and Accounts 2023/24 were submitted to NHS England ahead of the June deadline.
The foreword and key points were summarised by the team to create a short, public-facing Annual Report Summary 2023/24. The summary was promoted at the ICB’s Annual General Meeting in September.
For the first time, the annual reports and annual accounts were also incorporated into the same Word document (rather than merging two very different-looking PDFs) – meaning they were more integrated, legible and accessible.
"The CSU team has worked very hard and provided a fantastic service meaning we were able to complete this year’s Annual Report on time and to a high standard.
I would highly recommend the Ediorial Manager who was very knowledgeable and always goes above and beyond expectations.
The team helped to keep us on track as there were many people involved in writing the Annual Report. This meant we had to work together to coordinate content and ensure everything in the national guidance was covered. The Editorial Manager also helped to raise and resolve queries, meaning she worked with multiple teams across the ICB and worked very efficiently."
Jess Perkins, Communications and Engagement Manager, NHS Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB
Find out more about the work of the Communications and Engagement service.