We’ve been working with the All Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care (AIIHPC) on Palliative Care Week for several years. The aims of the all-Ireland week are to increase awareness, positively influence people’s views on palliative care before they need it, and debunk any myths about palliative care in our society.
We worked with AIIHPC – remotely during Covid-19 – to plan and deliver Palliative Care Week 2020 to its audiences in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland including the general public, health and social care professionals, and the respective health authorities.
The key aspects of the campaign were personal stories from palliative care service users and findings from a new survey of perceptions of palliative care commissioned by AIIHPC and carried out in July 2020.
In this year like no other, and with restrictions in place preventing any events, we supported AIIHPC with the following:
- Developing a comprehensive communications strategy for the campaign
- Securing feature opportunities in print and broadcast for palliative care service users to share their experiences
- Devising a stakeholder engagement plan to increase participation by AIIHPC’s partners during Palliative Care Week, particularly across social media
- Providing strategic advice on the partner toolkit (e.g. videos, leaflets, posters, etc.), consumer survey, infographics, and opinion pieces
- Photocall with Northern Ireland Minister for Health, Robin Swann
- Media alerts and press releases
- And, extensive media relations and follow-up.
We secured 70 pieces of coverage in media across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland including national print, radio and online; regional print and radio; and placement of opinion pieces.
Highlights included an opinion piece from Dr Brian Creedon in the Sunday Independent; features in The Irish Times, Irish Independent, Irish Farmers Journal; service user interviews on Today FM’s The Last Word; RTE Radio 1’s‘A Living Word’ for five consecutive days and an ‘Ask the Expert’ interview with Dr Brian Creedon on The Pat Kenny Show, Newstalk.