Dr Foster Intelligence

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In this section:

Success stories

Reaching people

Our public engagement and social marketing work covers a wide range of areas, including the following:

Alcohol

Organisation: Brighton and Hove City PCT

Problem: The high rate of binge drinking amongst 16 to 24 year olds. Teenagers in Brighton and Hove were the group most likely to need an ambulance due to binge drinking.
Solution: Dr Foster Intelligence was commissioned to design and implement a targeted communication and behavioural change campaign aimed at reducing binge drinking among the desired audience.
Outcome: An independent evaluation found the campaign to be a success in reaching the desired audience - two-thirds of post-campaign survey respondents who admitted binge drinking said that as a result of the campaign, they would think more carefully about their drinking.
Tool: A targeted, bespoke communication and behavioural change campaign

Organisation: Barnsley Primary Care Trust

Problem: The area’s high incidence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) contributed to £2 million of related admissions in one year.
Solution: The trust worked with Dr Foster Intelligence on raising awareness of COPD within the local community - this helped those with a high risk of developing the disease identify their symptoms, seek appropriate advice from their GP and better manage their care.
Outcome: Local knowledge and awareness increased greatly - more than 6,000 information packs were distributed - and over 300 people asked to be directly contacted by smoking cessation services.
Tool: A targeted, bespoke communication and social marketing approach.

Problem: The SHA's local population has one of the highest rates of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the UK.
Solution: Dr Foster Intelligence's social marketing team developed and implemented an awareness campaign called 'Catch Your Breath'. The campaign targeted those most at risk of COPD and used telemarketing to offer an information pack and further support.
Outcome: Sixty-five per cent of the households contacted asked for an information pack containing advice on stopping smoking. In homes where there was a smoker, 30 per cent of people contacted asked to be put straight through to the local smoking cessation services.
Tool or service: A tailor-made awareness and information campaign

Organisation: Western Cheshire PCT

Challenge: Almost twice as many people used A&E instead of out-of-hours services. Of these people, 40% only needed information or required no A&E service at all.
Solution: DFI analysed out-of-hours and A&E data, carried out a survey of local citizens and service users, and held group discussions and a deliberative event to understand perceptions and the use of urgent care services.
Outcome: The consultation found that the most popular policy options were improving family doctor services and increasing awareness of and access to out-of-hours services. However, there was also concern that greater investment in A&E services would be at the expense of care closer to home.

Organisation: Redbridge Primary Care Trust

Problem: The trust wanted to find ways to encourage more smokers to use the existing smoking cessation service.
Solution: Dr Foster Intelligence was commissioned to provide market research that focused on the available service and quitters' needs.
Outcome: The trust met their annual targets with a health campaign so innovative that it featured on GMTV’s local London programme, was on LBC radio news and is being considered by the PCT as a template for work in other areas of care.
Tool: A targeted, bespoke communications and social marketing approach.

Problem: The trust estimated that 22 per cent of its residents were smokers – the same as the England average – and wanted to increase the number of quitters and contact hard-to-reach groups.
Solution: Dr Foster Intelligence is providing insight and suggestions to the trust, helping the smoking cessation project team approach the problem according to the lifestyle of local smokers, rather than their location.
Outcome: The trust is planning continued service improvements and an increased marketing presence, while the project is being considered as a template for future work in other areas, such as chlamydia screening and alcohol use.
Tool: Targeted, bespoke communications and social marketing consultancy.

Problem: The north-west has the highest number of smokers in England, accounting for about 1.5 million of the population. More than 3,000 people in the region die every year before the age of 64 because of diseases caused by smoking.
Solution: The AGMPCT commissioned Dr Foster Intelligence to produce a social marketing programme aimed at reducing the prevalence of smoking and raising the profile of local stop smoking services across Greater Manchester, as well as particularly targeting those considered ‘more difficult to reach’.
Outcome: The campaign generated more than 6,000 potential quitters, and 65 per cent of people who saw the Quit-it information said it prompted them to think about quitting.
Tool: A targeted, bespoke communication and social marketing approach.

Problem: The PCT wanted to increase the number of young men and black and minority ethnic groups using its stop smoking services - two groups that were traditionally relatively unaware of the Trust's services and unlikely to respond to traditional NHS methods of communication.
Solution: Dr Foster Intelligence's social marketing team was commissioned to research the reasons behind the groups' behaviours and design a communication campaign that would increase the young mens' use of the smoking cessation services.
Outcome: Endorsed by Oldham FC, the Kick It campaign resulted in more than 800 people contacting the smoking cessation service and requesting further information.
Tool: A tailor-made social marketing and communication campaign

Area: Creating a smoke-free environment
Results: The campaign was met with a very positive response from businesses and the public. For National No Smoking Day 2006, 25 pubs volunteered to go smoke free.
DFI Product: A tailor-made publicity campaign was created, using street banners, bus and tube advertising, and door-to-door canvassing.
Summary: To tackle the number of smoking-related deaths, Islington wanted to create a smoke free environment, and with the help of a DFI campaign, over 1000 businesses were targeted.

Area: Getting smokers to kick the habit
Results: There was a 500% increase in the volume of calls to the smoking cessation helpline. There was a 75% increase in people setting a date to quit smoking, and a 110% increase in the number of people who had still quit after four weeks.
DFI Product: A tailor-made campaign was created, using Health Needs Mapping techniques.
Summary: DFI was recruited to help Lambeth residents use its excellent smoking cessation services.

Organisation: Brent Teaching Primary Care Trust

Area: Sexual health awareness amongst teenagers
Results: Reactions to the campaign from teenagers within the target group were overwhelmingly positive.
DFI Product: Tailor-made social marketing campaign including production of teen magazines
Summary: A DFI campaign was created to target the hard-to-reach group of teenagers at risk of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

Organisation: Four PCTs in North East London and the Department of Health

Problem: The PCTs had higher than average levels of women not attending breast cancer screenings. The Department of Health and the local providers wanted to understand the reasons behind the women's decisions not to attend and discover what needed to be done to make services more effective.
Solution: Dr Foster Intelligence's social marketing team researched the attitudes and behaviours of local women and designed more effective communications about the importance of attending screenings.
Outcome: The project team recommended that changes be made to the method of service delivery, as well as change the style of communication. The PCTs and Department of Health are already working on making those recommendations a reality.
Tool: Social marketing research and analysis

Problem: Inappropriate use of accident and emergency services was a continuing problem for the PCT, especially at the Royal London hospital, as costs were continuing to rise.
Solution: Dr Foster Intelligence's social marketing team was commissioned to research the reasons behind users' attendances in A&E and design a communication campaign to encourage more appropriate use of local services.
Outcome: By early 2007, A&E attendance dropped by more than six per cent from what it had been the previous year and was accompanied by an increase in GP attendance. In comparison, other local hospitals not running a similar campaign reported increases during the same period.
Tool or service: A tailor-made social marketing and communication campaign.

Area: Diabetes
Results: The first three months saw a 164% increase in early detection of diabetes
DFI Product: Tailor-made social marketing campaign
Summary: A DFI campaign was created to target the 50% of Slough residents who have diabetes but are unaware of it.

Area: Making the patient experience safer
Results: A regional pilot campaign in central Manchester was successfully completed in 2005 and 'Please Ask' launched nationally across England and Wales in March 2006.
DFI Product: A tailor-made magazine, poster and website campaign
Summary: DFI created a national campaign to encourage patients to communicate with health professionals.

Search drfoster.co.uk:

In this section:

Reaching people

Alcohol

Organisation: Brighton and Hove City PCT

COPD

Organisation: Barnsley Primary Care Trust

Organisation: Cheshire and Merseyside Strategic Health Authority

Public engagement

Organisation: Western Cheshire PCT

Smoking

Organisation: Redbridge Primary Care Trust

Organisation: Sutton and Merton Primary Care Trust

Organisation: Association of Greater Manchester PCTs (AGMPCT)

Organisation: Oldham Primary Care Trust

Organisation: Islington Primary Care Trust

Organisation: Lambeth Primary Care Trust

Teenage pregnancy

Organisation: Brent Teaching Primary Care Trust

Use of services

Organisation: Four PCTs in North East London and the Department of Health

Organisation: Tower Hamlets Primary Care Trust

Organisation: Slough Primary Care Trust

Organisation: National Patient Safety Agency