Untoward incidents How to handle the press

1
Untoward incidents -How to handle the press

• Jeya Balakrishna
• Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist
• Medical Director
• The North London Clinic Suttons Manor
• Partnerships in Care

2
Preparing for press enquiries

• Know all the facts or find them out fast
• The last thing you want is to be told something
  you did not know by a reporter
• Involve legal department early
• Maintain communication with management, relevant
  agencies and statutory bodies

3
Family and relatives

• Wherever possible, the family should hear bad
  news from you, not the media
• Inform early, and offer support
• Treat any letters to family as public documents

4
If the press contact you

• Take details of reporter and newspaper running
  the story
• Find out what the reporter knows, and wants to
  know
• Never answer queries immediately - check deadline
  for response and promise to ring back

5
Preparing a press statement

• Keep it factual and correct
• Include positive information relevant to the
  incident eg precautions, rules
• Emphasise appropriate action being taken
• Keep it short newspapers are unlikely to quote
  more than two or three sentences they regard as
  most important

6
Press Conference
7
Washbrook Copdock Partnership Trust

• Press Statement

8

• We can confirm that two residents in Somerset
  House Elderly Dementia Service (SHEDS) left the
  unit on Saturday evening.
• We are following our care procedures with help
  from the police to ensure their safe return.
• We are keeping their families updated about
  developments.

9

• Happened at 6pm on a Saturday, more agency nurses
  on duty than regulars.
• No one noticed that the two senior gents mistook
  the French doors to the garden for the dining
  room.
• They apparently picked up the scent of fish and
  chips from the shops along the road outside the
  garden, and wandered off in search of their tea.

10
Press Conference
11

• SHEDS is a sleepy little unit long forgotten by
  the Trust

12

• Trust management are clear and consistent about
  their commitment to all services within the
  Trust, but there have been nagging concerns about
  some of the Estate being neglected

13

• Some carers have expressed concerns that the
  Trust does not provide enough fish or chips on
  the SHEDS menu, despite this being voted the
  favourite meal for the gentlemen residents

14

• On the evening in question, the nurse manager
  (and SAS Gulf veteran) Colonel Mustard was on duty

15

• Some of the agencies supplying the temporary
  nurses are thought to be of dubious reputeold
  contacts of Colonel Mustard perhaps?

16

• The SHEDS Director
• Ms Scarlett is wife of Professor Plum, the
  Medical Director, himself a leading expert in the
  treatment of dementia

17

• On the day in question, Ms Scarletts car was in
  the car park of Somerset House, since 1pm

18

• The nurse manager Colonel Mustard is having an
  affair with Ms Scarlett

19
Press Conference

• Thank you to the Press!

20
Sir Humphreys guide to answering press questions

• Attack the question
• Attack the questioner
• Compliment the question
• Unload the question
• Use up time
• Invoke secrecy
• Give a very long answer

21
How to answer questions from the press

• Stay calm, speak slowly and clearly
• Give succinct answers least said, soonest
  mended
• Say the most important things first
• Dont get interrupted, finish your answer
• Dont answer questions you have not been asked
• Never say no comment

22
Getting things right when things go wrong gives
important messages about your organisation

• Ensure visible leadership
• Have a plan for managing incidents
• Keep staff informed
• Incident reporting promote a culture that
  focuses on improving practice, not on
  deficiencies and blame

23
Untoward incidents -How to handle the press

• Jeya Balakrishna
• Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist
• Medical Director
• The North London Clinic Suttons Manor
• Partnerships in Care
• jbalakrishna_at_partnershipsincare.co.uk