We boosted vaccination uptake across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent through insight-led, community-driven communications, strategic media, and digital transformation.

Background

Since April 2025, the NHS Midlands and Lancashire (NHS ML) Communications and Engagement team have supported the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent vaccination programme, including COVID-19 vaccinations, the winter flu campaign, and the rollout of the MMRV (measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox) vaccine.

Embedded with the local vaccination team, NHS ML worked closely with public health consultants and community leaders to deliver tailored, responsive messaging that built trust and met the specific needs of local communities.

Action

Our approach combined strategic planning with flexible delivery, underpinned by collaboration and insight:

• Stakeholder communications: Produced a bi-weekly vaccination newsletter for partner organisations, equipping them to support community engagement, improve coordination across the Integrated Care System (ICS), and strengthen joined-up working
• Media relations: Delivered a comprehensive programme of interviews, podcasts, and thought leadership with clinical and public health spokespeople, enhancing credibility and fostering public trust
• Social media campaigns: Combined paid advertising with organic content to reach priority audiences, using insights to refine targeting. Developed bespoke local assets and messaging to engage key groups effectively
• Digital transformation: Redesigned the ICS vaccination webpages to provide clear, accessible information on eligibility, booking, and local vaccination sites. Following a deep dive into analytics, the team updated content and launched a local resource centre for partners to easily access and download assets
• Strategic programme support: Worked closely with partners to streamline delivery and lead key milestones, including the winter flu campaign and the MMRV vaccine launch
• Community co-design: Developed targeted communications with community leaders, low-uptake groups, and public health experts to address local barriers. This included co-produced videos with people with learning disabilities and autism, and a system-wide vodcast answering vaccination questions from young people.

Impact

The full-circle, insight-driven approach delivered seamless communications and engagement support that adapted quickly to emerging needs.

• Strong partnerships with community leaders provided critical insights, enabling highly targeted messaging and responsive problem solving in low-uptake areas.
• Media reach: The media programme reached over 37.5 million people across local, regional, and national outlets.
• Social media performance: The winter flu paid social media campaign more than doubled forecasted reach and impressions, with click-through rates well above industry benchmarks.
• Digital impact: Views of vaccination and immunisation pages rose 147%, with the main vaccination homepage views increasing by 655% following the website redesign
• Vaccine uptake: Flu vaccine coverage across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent remained above the national average throughout winter and beyond.

Feedback

“The communications and engagement support has been invaluable to the vaccination programme. The team, led by Harpreet and Chloe proved to be a safe and reliable pair of hands, delivering results while providing consistently high-quality, strategic advice. Coordinating across multiple stakeholders and organisations is complex, but the project has been exceptionally well managed.

“Their insight-led approach ensured our vaccination messages reached the right people at the right time, maximising exposure and supporting high uptake. This directly contributed to the smooth delivery of winter vaccinations and a strong flu vaccine uptake.”

Samantha Buckingham, Vaccination Programme Lead for Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board

Further information

For more information about our communications and engagement service and to find out how we can help, please contact us.