As you all know, placing our practitioners first andproviding relevant, engaging content is the core of our new strategy. Sincestarting in July, there has been a 96% increase in content-only subscriptions,which is phenomenal – I want to welcome everyone joining the communityrecently, and to thank those that have remained loyal during this period oftransition. I’ve personally taken on a considerable amount of risk with thisnew venture and have sacrificed a great deal to push PPH to the next level, andthis level of early growth has made it truly worth it!
Looking back at my time as a doctor, one of my biggest frustrations with working in a massive organisation like the NHS was that neither myself nor my colleagues felt like we had a voice. Every quarter, we would have inter-departmental Morbidity & Mortality meetings and the junior doctors would spend days collating the operating data to present to our seniors and peers. As part of this process, which we would often have to give up our evenings and weekends to complete, we would also have to conduct regular internal audits and outline solutions for how our department could be improved. I used to really enjoy the data collection process, as I have always been obsessed with efficiency and performance, but despite sometimes having compelling evidence, we wouldn’t see change happening.
It felt like we were constantly pushing up against a wallwith hard-working clinicians on one side and senior management on the other.For me, not being able to bring about positive change to a clearly brokensystem was a real killer. What was the point if nothing good ever came from it?I am sure this is not the case across the board, but without aligning the goalsbetween clinicians and managers (the former focusing on saving lives; thelatter on meeting specific patient number targets), there will always befrustrations on both sides. Ultimately, we were worlds apart, and I found thatpolarity and divisiveness very difficult to deal with. Although tough, my 8years in the NHS were a wonderful experience – I learnt so much, but from ayoung age, I knew I had to get out there and build something better! And here Iam, 13 years later, working hard on doing just that.
So, how will The Private Practice Hub be different? It’ssimple: by becoming data-driven and practitioner-centric, and by being flexibleenough to ignore our egos and follow the evidence. Over the last few weeks, wehave been surveying different groups of practitioners at PPH – understandingtheir pain points, how they want information delivered to them, and using thatdata to guide our decision-making processes. This simple process is the firststep in a series of measures we will be taking to ensure we truly understandour audience and stay as relevant as we can for all of you. So what did wefind? Well, the most compelling data point was that over 50% of those thatfilled out the survey highlighted they struggle with marketing their practices.This came as no surprise to me, and I can totally relate in that I am terribleat marketing myself too!
As marketing is overwhelmingly the largest area of weakness for our members, we have listened and put together a strategy to drive more consumers to our website. As we approach the launch for our new site, I am pleased to welcome Hannah Cykowski to our editorial team, who has single-handedly built her own blog, focusing on self-care with chronic health problems, attracting 2.1M monthly views. Hannah will give PPH a much-needed consumer voice by focusing on the real-life impacts that complementary and alternative therapies can have on a variety of areas, ranging from mental and physical health, lifestyle choices and self-care to name but a few. As part of this new strategy, we will feature therapists from the UKTH, as well as products featured in our marketplace, to help consumers make informed decisions in managing their own healthcare. This is a truly unique and exciting opportunity for our practitioners to market themselves in line with our consumer-focused editorial calendar.
The survey results have also been a great guide as to whatare important features for our new website. Every new feature, ranging fromclient satisfaction surveys to adding videos to your listings, are all gearedtowards educating new prospective clients as to why you are the right fit fortheir needs.
Looking back at my journey as an entrepreneur, I have madejust about every mistake there is to make! I never let these repeated failuresat the beginning bring me down and I am now the proud owner of two exciting,innovative companies. It’s my mission to help your health businesses thrive byimparting the knowledge and experience I have developed over the years. firstlyas a clinician and then as an entrepreneur.
We are in an enviable position to be able to run service improvement studies at PPH in line with research gold standard, whilst also being safe in the knowledge that a positive change will 100% come out of them all. This data-driven approach is something we must all engage with and I cannot stress this enough. The more we know and understand you, the more we can shape our service to meet the needs and demands of your professional lives. We are your humble servants, after all!
Finally, I want to express my thanks to all those that have taken time to complete our 1-minute service improvement survey. I hope that the positive changes outlined above that have come as a direct consequence to the survey results will inspire everyone to share their thoughts and experiences. Together, we can and will change this industry.
So, please spare a few moments now and help shape PPH around your needs by completing our service improvement survey.
[Our audience surveys are powered by the same ethical considerations that govern clinical trials so be rest assured they will always remain anonymous. You have my guarantee on that!]
