Analysis of the A&E Crisis in January 2015

Transcription

1 Analysis of the A&E Crisis in January 2015 March 2015 Digital sources included mainstream news media, blogs, forums, Facebook & Twitter.

2 Introduction Hanover and Onalytica were interested to analyse the interactions between influencers and online media when it came to the health policy debate. The A&E crisis at the start of January 2015 appeared to offer the perfect case study to look at how the debate was driven online, how it was shaped by (and how it influenced) traditional media, and who the most important influencers were, as well as identifying the connections that existed between different influencers. For example, online debate began to spike by 6 th January, which was before the national newspaper front pages led with A&E stories on 7 th January. However, whilst national newspaper front pages on 8 th January led with the Charlie Hebdo Paris shootings of the previous day, online activity around A&E stories (although falling) continued at pre-spike levels for sometime, and continued to be driven by the online presence of traditional print and broadcast media outlets. Moreover and politically-speaking, much of the online debate was led from the Left, as can be seen by looking at the most vocal influencers. The pages which follow provide the headline findings of the research. For more information, including a list of the top 50 influencers identified and an network map showing how influencers interacted with each other, read the blog and visit 2

3 Executive Summary On the January A&E crisis, the research finds that: The crisis element on social media lasted around seven days, with a surge of activity on 6 th and 7 th January, which pre-empted traditional print media. Social media mentions remained above pre-crisis rates for another 16 days after the initial news, as debate about the wider issues associated with it such as service changes and funding were debated. On social media platforms, Twitter was the major driver of debate in contrast with Facebook, mainstream news outlets and blogs. However, national media remained critical to driving the social media debate. NHS organisations engaged primarily re-actively in response to events and developments being reported by the major media outlets. One of the most vocal influencers on the issue was Richard Blogger from NHS Vault, with other notable influencers being the think tank Labour Left, NHS campaigner Sam Wong and the Daily Mirror newspaper. Beyond waiting times, the issues most closely associated with the crisis were staff, over-crowding and funding. Politically, mentions of David Cameron were prominent in conjunction with the crisis, reflecting a strategy of opposition critics to effectively link the Prime Minister personally to the issue. 3

4 A&E Crisis social media storm Throughout the month of January there were a total of 30,067 mentions on the A&E Crisis across digital and social media channels Mentions of the A&E crisis spiked on 6 th and 7 th January with 6,374 posts generated on the 7 th. We can see that although the conversation dropped off after 8 th January there is still sustained attention throughout the whole of January with a spike in commentary on the 14 th. 4

5 Online commentators driving debate through Twitter Mainstream News 3% Blogs 1% Forum 0% Facebook 10% Twitter 86% Twitter Facebook Mainstream News Blogs Forum We can see here some of the main drivers behind the conversations. Through the word cloud we can see the reoccurring topics such as elderly, Cameron, politics and reorganisation that were frequently appearing within the same context as A&E crisis. Furthermore we can see that the majority of conversations were happening across Twitter with an 86% share of the entire debate. Facebook was contributing a further 10% with Mainstream News, Blogs and Forums only contributing a combined total of 4%. 5

6 Key Influencer Analysis Onalytica and Hanover then analysed the debate amongst the top 1350 UK influencers to look at whether the market trend was consistent with key opinion formers. These 1350 influencers consisted of the top 500 UK influencers driving most engagement on Twitter in the A&E crisis debate on 1-10 th January 2015 and known key opinion leaders in healthcare. These influencers have a disproportionate impact on the healthcare sector as they are far more influential than the average consumer. Analysis on this sample represents real signal as to where the debate is moving and the resulting trends and potential implications. These influencers & stakeholders were then segmented into Bloggers, Campaign Groups, General Public, Government & Political, Health Media, National Media, NHS Org/Professionals, Org/Industry Bodies and Regional Media to assess the relative impact of each of the groups upon the main issues. 6

7 National Media and Blogger Community Exert Influence Throughout January the most vocal group of influencers were National Media with a total of 754 Mentions. Activity for all influencer groups peaked on the 6 th with the exception of Orgs/Industry Bodies which peaked on the 7 th, indicating they were not responsible for initially driving the debate. National Media and the Blogger community were the 2 most vocal influencer groups driving the A&E crisis debate on the 6 th. Influencer Groups National Media: 754 posts NHS Org/Professional: 666 posts Blogger: 632 posts General Public: 521 posts Govt & Political: 516 posts Regional Media: 246 posts Org/Industry Body: 210 posts Health Media: 196 posts Campaign Group: 186 posts 7

8 BBC Breaking News, Dr Éoin Clarke, The Daily Mirror and Ed Miliband were the top influencers by engagement Influencer Groups Driving Debate National Media: 18.4% Blogger: 18% NHS Org/Professional: 14% Govt & Political: 14.8% General Public: 13.8% Regional Media: 6.7% Campaign Group: 5% Org/Industry Body: 4.8% Health Media: 4.4% Top Influencers by Engagement BBC Breaking News Dr Éoin Clarke (LabourLeft) Daily Mirror Ed Miliband BBC News (UK) Top Commentators Richard Blogger (NHS Vault) posts Labour Left (Labour Think Tank) - 90 posts Sam Wong (NHS campaigner) - 53 posts Mirror Politics - 40 posts 8

9 Issues most closely associated with the crisis were staff, over-crowding and funding We can see here a cross section of the sub topics mentioned in conjunction with the A&E Crisis. A&E Waiting Times: 55% NHS Staff: 20% A&E Overcrowding: 13% NHS Funding: 7% Walk-In Centres: 4% Ambulance Response Times: 1% The most referenced topic in conjunction with the A&E Crisis between the 1 st -10 th January was A&E Waiting Times which received a total of 536 mentions. 9

10 If you operate in the healthcare space and would like to discuss your social media profile and strategy please contact Hanover on +44 (0) , If you would like discuss influencer or stakeholder mapping in healthcare and how you can scale influencer engagement please contact Onalytica on +44 (0) , About Hanover Hanover is an independent consulting firm that specialises in advising brands, businesses and organisations on reputation, communications and public affairs. Hanover s award winning healthcare team delivers campaigns for clients across policy and regulatory affairs, media and corporate communications, and brand market access. About Onalytica Onalytica provide market-leading Influencer Relationship Management software designed to help you understand the influential digital community around your brand or key topics and run effective influencer engagement programmes. 10