Swine flu: crisis management

When a six-year old pupil tragically died of swine flu in the London Borough of Hillingdon, the media spotlight turned on the council. This case study looks at how its communications team supported schools, council staff and the primary care trust.

• Key learnings for other councils
• Background
• What we did
• Problems and how we tackled them
• What we could have done better?
• Further information
• Useful links

Key learnings for other councils

Get your contacts and roles sorted straight away. Managing something like this means working quickly and effectively with a variety of people. Make sure you are clear on who the lead authority is and who your main point of contact is internally.

Make yourself or someone in your team the expert. Make sure you have a lead in your team so is up to speed with all the latest developments at a strategic and operational level and has working contact with other people who can be relied on for important information.

Think the unthinkable and be prepared for it. The media are always looking for the ‘new’ story around any big issue and it might just be your council. Put plans in place for the communications that you will provide at certain ‘trigger points’, for example, first case in the borough, first death, first in the council etc.

Background

The council already had contingency plans and has worked closely with civil protection officers since news of the virus hit the headlines in April 2009.

A communications lead is the main point of contact for swine flu and is in constant liaison with the civil protection service. This is because they receive more information from the Health Protection Agency about the ongoing development of the virus.

A communications person is also involved in any strategic meeting about the council’s overall response and management of the situation. This means we always have an overall perspective on the current situation.

What we did

Internal communications

When news of the virus hit the headlines back in April a message was sent to all staff from the chief executive to reassure them.

Information about swine flu – for example, contact numbers for those with symptoms – was published on the council intranet.

All managers were sent a briefing about what to do should their staff become ill or show symptoms.

Schools

As the first cases in schools began to be reported, we needed to ensure that our schools were supported to deal with enquiries from concerned parents. All head teachers were sent:

• a letter from the director of education reassuring them of the council’s response and support if they needed it
• a simple process chart informing them of what to do should they be alerted to a case in their school
• some general questions and answers about symptoms and other health advice
• press office contacts, including out-of-hours numbers, so that the council’s communication team could deal with any media enquiries.

Ongoing

We update all briefings and information regularly as the pandemic continues. All information about swine flu comes through the communications team to ensure that it’s appropriate and accurate.

Overall internal communications involve:

• intranet information and staff chat forums
• managers' briefings
• members' briefings
• staff newspaper
• schools support
• contact centre briefings
• posters from the primary care trust (PCT)

External communications involve:

• resident magazine
• council website and other e-comms channels
• media relations
• partner communications

Problems and how we tackled them

Tragic death

As the first cases in the borough became known the council worked with the PCT to deal with a relatively low number of enquiries from local media. The council’s communication team briefed the lead local reporter about swine flu in general and the importance of maintaining a sense of perspective on the situation. Consequently, the first cases were reported accurately and in a balanced way.

In June however, six-year old pupil Chloe Buckley – who had been confirmed as suffering from swine flu – tragically died. The borough immediately became the focus of national media attention. The local health authority organised a meeting for parents at Chloe’s school. The council’s communications lead attended to support the head teacher and the director of education.

The cause of death had not been confirmed at this point, so the council felt it was best placed to speak to the media – rather than a health professional – on behalf of the school.

The council’s communications lead briefed the media outside the school. This was broadcast live on Sky News and subsequently on all major news channels and quoted in every national paper.

During this time, the council press office was inundated with calls and requests for further information, photos of the pupil and more. To manage this, two press officers were taken off normal duties to be the point of contact and a resource for the communications lead at the school. Press officers also worked an out-of-hours service to handle enquiries on a rota basis.

Partners in communications

This situation really tests your partnership relationships and requires constant liaison to manage effectively. The local health authority is the lead in this kind of situation and so we spoke to them constantly to ensure that the messages we were putting out were accurate and consistent with theirs.

The council were not the overall leads in the swine flu response but found it necessary to help manage media enquiries and wider communications. Whilst this could be frustrating, it was a joint effort. The key was to keep the lines of communication open, constantly and consistently with our partners. Neither agency could have responded to the situation without the support of the other. Frank and honest discussion between us was vital.

Councils have a responsibility and an opportunity here to be community leaders and must take the lead where necessary to ensure this happens.

Accuracy, timing and consistency of the message

There is a lot of information about swine flu from a variety of sources. Initially it was difficult to get consistent information to communicate internally. We needed to be sure we were providing the right information to the right people.

As anxiety about swine flu increased, the team had to manage frequent requests for briefings, staff memos and information. To overcome this our communications lead was part of the strategic group managing the council’s response. This means that we are on top of what needs to be communicated and when, and don’t overload staff with too frequent and unnecessary information.

Media appetite for information

When dealing with the response to Chloe’s death, a major issue for us was being able to provide a good and timely service to the media while respecting the parents’ wishes for privacy during a very difficult time.

The media wanted photos, interviews with the parents and further information about the child. Understandably, the family didn’t want to provide this so the press team had to manage these requests very tightly. We were able to overcome this by pressing the PCT to agree a statement with the family so that the media had something and would leave the family to grieve in peace.

What we could have done better?

At the beginning we underestimated the extent that communications would be relied on to lead, advise and coordinate the response internally and externally. This meant unforeseen demands on the capacity of the team. We now have letter and briefing templates in place for updating information. Having them prepared in advance would have been helpful.

As with any contingency plans, you only know how good they are when they’re really tested and – as the swine flu pandemic continues – are adapting the way we work to manage this on-going situation.

Further information

Emma Marsh
Deputy Head of Corporate Communications
Corporate Communications
London Borough of HIllingdon
telephone: 01895 556064
email: EMarsh@Hillingdon.gov.uk

Useful links

Swine flu (H1N1): information for elected members

Swine flu – on the Local Government Association website

More about swine flu – on the Directgov website

Have you got good practice to share about dealing with the swine flu problem? Join the discussion in the Communications Forum.

The Communications Forum