University Hospital Southampton UHS is a busy teaching Hospital – the regional centre for A&E and intensive care on the south coast. As across the NHS, recruitment is a problem, despite the hospital being a leading light in research and development. Many new, progressive techniques and processes were originated here. The idea was to get prospective candidates to ‘Think UHS’ as their destination.

To believe in this they would need to know that they could progress and that they could make their mark. And that the culture is one that enables innovative thinking, and ideas are acted on, trialled and invested in.

The approach which I developed as Creative Strategist at an employee comms consultancy was to deliver real examples of real people whose innovative ideas had been taken on, or who were working at the hospital thanks to its open mindedness and ability to spot raw talent.

The campaign took a ‘humans of New York’ approach highlighting individuals and telling their story in longer form content driven by posters and social media campaign.

The product of lots of interviews I conducted with consultants, nurses, research scientists, midwives, ODPs, Porters and Heart surgeons. I discovered their story, and developed the campaign around them.

Photographer Yvonne Catterson