We want our social media platforms to be a welcoming space where people feel comfortable to talk to us and each other. We ask that anyone engaging with our social media channels shows courtesy, kindness and respect for all other members.
These principles have been produced to help us all feel as comfortable, safe and confident as possible whenever we visit or interact on our social media pages.
We welcome your feedback on our posts and how we can use our accounts effectively.
If you need urgent help for your mental health, please contact our 24/7 Mental Health Crisis Line (0800 028 8000) or the relevant team through the contact details on this website. Please don’t use our social media accounts for this purpose.
What we do
Our communications team updates and monitors our main Trust accounts Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm and schedules posts to appear outside of these hours. This includes:
Twitter, Facebook LinkedIn and Instagram
- We aim to respond to messages on the same day.
- We’ll read all mentions, @replies, posts and direct messages sent to us. We can’t always reply to every individual message we receive but we will get back to you, or pass your message on where appropriate.
- We may ask you to send a private message to us with your contact details, particularly when it’s not appropriate for us to respond on social media. This means the right person can follow up with you about your question or concern.
- We may ask you to contact our PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service) team for help and support
What we won’t do
- We won’t discuss any individual’s care through social media.
- We don’t deal with complaints through social media. There’s a process to follow: View our complaints process
- We don’t answer clinical or medical questions, but we’ll do our best to signpost where to get information, advice or support as appropriate.
Taking action
We understand we’ll face scrutiny and criticism on social media. We believe people are entitled to share their views and we won’t remove a post simply because it’s negative.
If however, we believe a contribution goes against our principles we may hide or delete the comment, block the account that it’s come from and/or report it to the social media platform. In certain cases, we may send comments to the police or take legal action in the case of threatening, libellous or defamatory posts.
We will take action when a post:
- Contains hateful or discriminatory comments
- Contains swearing or other profane, defamatory, offensive or violent language
- Is abusive towards members of staff or the public
- Targets a member of staff. We do take complaints about our employees very seriously and if you have an issue or concern about an individual please follow our complaints process.
- Contains links to inappropriate material
- Discusses illegal activity
- Relates to confidential or personal information
- Contains irrelevant advertising
- Is mean-spirited or contributes with the intention of causing offence or hurt
We’ll always try to message users who we’ve taken any action against because of a post or comment and explain our reasons. If you want to discuss our decision please email communications@swlstg.nhs.uk