Innovative plane campaign flies high with award win

The communications team at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust have won a national award for the Take My Place campaign.

The campaign, seen by more than 100,000 people across the region, featured a colourful array of paper planes to symbolise how families unable to attend their appointment could re-book their appointment to a more convenient time and pass their slot on to another child waiting to be seen.

Since its launch in February 2019, the campaign has worked alongside other measures taken by Sheffield Children’s to increase the number of children receiving care by 3,000. The rate for missed appointments has decreased to the lowest on record. This has meant more children being able to receive the specialist diagnosis and treatment the need sooner and in the case of baby Sophie, who attended an appointment passed on by another family, the results were life-saving.

The Un-Awards are delivered by Comms2Point0, a community of communications professionals specialising in the public sector. Sheffield Children’s won in the Best Use of Research/Evaluation and was also shortlisted in the Best Low Cost Campaign category.