CIM launches second NHS White Paper

A The Chartered Institute of Marketing product story

Edited by the Marketingweek Marketplace editorial team Mar 4, 2009

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) is to launch its second White Paper on marketing and the NHS - 'Measure for Measure: Metrics and Marketers in the NHS'.

The paper explores the use of metrics in the NHS and how measurement will help improve the patient experience.

The CIM's paper makes clear that metrics and measurement will be crucial to delivering the new patient-led NHS.

A more strategic approach to marketing is required; one that moves beyond the communications role that most marketers in the NHS currently conduct, and gets to the heart of what patients want from the organisation.

However, marketers must demonstrate how the focus on patient needs and improving the patient experience delivers real benefits for the NHS.

David Thorp, director of research and professional development at the CIM, said: 'In business, it is often said that what gets measured gets done.

'Marketers in the NHS need to use metrics and measurement to truly understand the patient experience and improve it.

'With more rigorous use of measurement and the right choice of metrics, the value of marketer's work in the NHS can be proved - as an income earner, cost-saver and value-creator - not a cost to the system.

The CIM has worked closely with its own medical marketing group in the development of the paper, and hosted a roundtable discussion with senior marketing managers from across a broad spectrum of NHS Trusts and organisations, including the Department of Health's Communications Directorate, to hear their views on the importance of metrics in the new patient-led NHS.

Presentations of the White Paper will be made at public events taking place on the 25 March in London (St Thomas' Hospital) and on 2 April in Leeds (St James' University Hospital).

The CIM already runs training courses for marketers and managers within the NHS, and the White Paper underlines the institute's commitment to marketing in the NHS, and its belief that marketing can make a positive difference to the organisation.