North West Air Ambulance
On-call crisis communications support
The Brief
Operating 365 days a year, the North West Air Ambulance provides urgent pre-hospital care via helicopter and critical care vehicles to critically ill and injured patients across the North West.
RMS was appointed to produce a practical crisis communications protocol to ensure that everyone in the charity is aware of their role should a crisis present itself.
Activity
Working closely with NWAA’s communications and senior leadership teams, we started off by discussing all the potential crisis scenarios the charity might face.
These ranged from the medical teams having to attend fatal incidents to NWAA shops being burgled to cyber-attacks … and dozens of others.
We then wrote a user-friendly strategy document that set out the role of the media, the importance of responding to enquiries, how to handle media interviews and a whole host of other important information. The aim was to ensure everyone at the charity, which has around 100 members of staff and 800 volunteers, understood why reputational management is critical, especially to an organisation that relies on goodwill and charitable donations for survival.
The document categorised potential incidents into red/amber/green and provided a clear, visual escalation process for each level of crisis so everyone knew at a glance what was required of them. It also included holding statements for the media, NWAA website and social media accounts and internal communications that could be cascaded throughout the organisation.
We create and participate in quarterly desk top exercises featuring simulated scenarios, which have included everything from cars crashing into NWAA retail shops, leaks of unsavoury donors to the media, security breaches to helicopters crashing with high profile celebrities on board. These, combined with several real life incidents, enable us to rigorously test our approach and refine the document accordingly.
Every crisis is different, so this living document is constantly updated to ensure we cover as many eventualities as possible.
As part of our relationship with North West Air Ambulance, we are on-call to provide crisis comms support when needed. As an external adviser, we are able to remain calm and dispassionate, often in the face of highly emotional situations.
The nature of such scenarios means they are often fast moving, with new information coming to light by the minute. Being able to respond and react in a timely and appropriate manner is imperative.
We may be required to draft statements, engage with NWAA stakeholders or simply provide advice and act as a sounding board.
Success
We feel privileged to have worked in partnership with NWAA since 2020.
During this time, we have participated in many desktop sessions and been on-hand to draft sensitive statements during live situations, including the tragic Southport stabbings.
The feedback we receive from the senior leadership and communications teams is always positive. Every situation we have encountered has been handled efficiently and ensured the reputation of this amazing charity that saves lives is protected.