Dr Stuart Berry explains how and why he uses social media as a GP, his experiences so far, and his suggestions and top tips for making the most of social media in a healthcare setting.

1. #HelloMyNameIs
Dr Stuart Berry
@StuartBerry1

2. “Talk about why you use social media,
and what you think your patients get out of it”
Caroline Kenyon
Director of Communications and Engagement
Innovation Agency
Academic Health Science Network for the North West Coast

3. Why Does a GP tweet ?
• Some background about me
• Some stats around the sites I
work with
• Reasons for tweeting
• Tribes
• Gamification
• Behaviour change
• The Future !

4. #HelloMyNameIs
Dr Stuart Berry
• I’m a GP in Nelson , Pendle,
East Lancs
• 11300 patients
• Locality lead for Pendle
(90000 Patients ) which is part
of East Lancs CCG , (371000
People)
• Respiratory lead for ELCCG

5. My Social Media Experience
• Started tweeting in June 2011
• Became interested in some of the
things that I had seen on the internet
about exercise + behaviour change
• introduced to Wordpress and the
idea of creating a website by David
Rogers CCG Comms team.
• Created a blog , practice website, a
couple of locality specific patient info
websites.
• Practice Facebook account & twitter
account .

7. 10 Retweets and 5 likes
➤ 2,016 impressions

9. That looks impressive - but its worth noting
that even my more successful tweets only
have an engagement rate of 1%

13. Opportunity & Potential
There are 60000 people using Facebook who
come within 5 km of our practice each week.

14. Why do I use Social Media ?
• Entertainment
• News
• Stay in contact with my
colleagues
• Horizon scanning
• Take part in discussions
• To raise awareness of
things that are important to
me.

15. I use Social Media to Raise awareness
of things that are important to me.
• Promote selfcare & self-
management
• Moving More
• COPD & Asthma
• Health Topics
• Health Literacy - infographics
• Raise the profile of other
people - help them to get their
message out - increase their
reach

16. Social Media helps me to feel like I’m
part of some bigger picture.
It is a way of communicating with
other members of the Health Tribe
Visualisation of People in my
Twitter network
tweeting #ELCCG

17. How do I use Social Media ?
• Hashtags
• Lists on Twitter
• Tweet Jukebox => Social Media Jukebox
• Purposefully look to see what is being put on the
Twitter and Facebook sites of my council , local
hospital and our CCG
• Educate , inform and entertain (Lord Reith BBC 1922)

18. Sharing is caring ;@)
Please Retweet, Like,
Share and Repost.
Photo by Bob Cotter via Flickr

20. Tribes I’m part of ;
• NHS
• People interested in tech
• selfcare
• #nhssm
• GP
• Respiratory
• Mental Health
Some Fellow members
of the Breathe Easy Tribe
at Turf Moor, Burnley

21. Understanding your Tribes
• What Tribes are you part of ?
• How do you stay up to date with
other members of your tribe ?
• How do you contribute to the
conversations ?
• What do you get out of being in
the tribe ?
• What do you get back ?
• How could you attract more
people ?
Football at Fenway - Red Bleachers by Eric Kilby

22. Successful tribes are good
at communicating.
• Between the Leaders and the Followers
• Between Followers and Leaders
• Followers to Follower
• Tribes-person with non-tribes person.
• Those outside with those in the Know.

23. Some Suggestions…
• Wouldn't it be great if every organisation , club or
department in your district had a website , Facebook
and Twitter account.
• Help out your organisations by posting their posters or
fliers to social media ?
• Use a hashtag that makes sense for your area, and
use it in your posts.
• Line up your ducks - plan your campaigns

24. Stuarts Top Tips
• Create a list of accounts to
recommend & follow
• Share, Like, & Retweet
others posts
• Give, Give , Give before
asking ( reciprocity )
• Nothing is fixed - feel free to
experiment & see what
works
• Just Do It

25. @StuartBerry1

26. Do patients ask you for
advice ?
• Yes - sometimes - but this is
pretty rare.
• Possible to take the
conversation out of the public
domain ASAP
• Referring people back to the
channels that are already
there e.g. email, Patient
Access ( secure online portal
to GP Practice ) , Telephone
Reception.