Interim communications team

Kent Surrey Sussex Academic Health Science Network

Background

My former boss Bernard was approached to cover the function of an organisation’s communications team, while a replacement solution was identified and recruited. He called me, together with a mutual former colleague, Claire, and we began work within a week of the initial approach. The organisation was Kent Surrey Sussex Academic Health Science Network, a government-funded body acting as the link point between people with innovative ideas, researchers, academics, funders and the NHS, in Kent, Surrey and Sussex. They’ve undergone a rebrand since then and are now Health Innovation Kent Surrey Sussex.

Process

We began by figuring out a division of labour, planning our team communications, and scheduling regular catchups with the rest of the organisation. With Bernard taking the lead, Claire took responsibility for short-form and social media content, and I took on long-form and in-depth pieces. My tasks included interviewing people, compiling information for award submissions, drafting newsletter articles and web content, and supporting Claire and Bernard, as they also supported me. We worked very much as a team, with a certain number of hours each per week, and covering the work of at least two FTE comms team members.

Result

The KSS team were delighted with the work we were able to accomplish, given the limitations of geography and time, and the support that we were able to give to recruit and hand over to our replacement(s).

Interim comms team supporting a manager, with one colleague
Med-tech/academia through mutual connections
Three month contract extended to six; June-Dec 2022
Cost for my part £10k; overall cost commercially sensitive