News

25th Jun 2009Crying in their cornflakes

Verve recently joined the debate about the demise of local newspapers and how councils were being blamed for ‘unfair competition’. Verve MD, Tony O’Regan had a simple message for the newspaper Society’s new CE John Fry “there won’t be too many council leaders, CEs or media managers crying in their cornflakes over the concerns he raised”.

Mr Fry needs to ask himself and his colleagues why councils have had to go to the lengths of producing such publications in the first place. He will then find that:

Newspapers see their local councils as too easy a target for bad news

Councils have been ‘ripped off’ for years by his newspapers putting an unjustifiable premium on public notice advertising

Competition from alternative outlets such as the internet are now more attractive and provide a better return for their bucks

Many papers, particularly those in areas with large BME communities, ignore a large section of their readers

Councils are under pressure to keep residents informed and local newspapers cannot fulfil this need

I can only say to Mr Fry that the writing has been on the wall for a long time!

8th May 2009A picture of health

In October 2007, Verve was commissioned to support A picture of health, a large-scale consultation process about the reconfiguration of NHS services within Bromley, Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham. Following award of the contract, Verve had a team in situ full-time with the Project Team within three days, and within six weeks had recruited a team to deliver the contract.

In May 2008, the Secretary of State for Health, Alan Johnson, made public his decision on the way forward for the A picture of health programme. In his letters to the Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (JHOSC) and Bexley Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Bexley HOSC) he stated:

"Having taken both the JHOSC and HOSC’s concerns into account and having carefully considered the advice of the IRP, I am satisfied that the proposals are in the interests of the local health service and service users."

The public engagement programme was large-scale (more than 1million residents) and high-profile:

· 309 meetings with stakeholder groups (111 of these with organisations working with under-represented groups)

· 4 major public events (almost 700 attended)

· Consultation documents distributed to more than 500,000 households and 200,000 businesses, NHS and community organisations

· More than 8,000 questionnaires returned

· 1,306 calls, emails and letters.