Digital and Social Media Policy

Digital and Social Media Policy POLICY NUMBER POLICY VERSION RATIFYING COMMITTEE DATE RATIFIED DATE OF EQUALITY & HUMAN RIGHTS IMPACT ASSESSMENT (EHR...
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Digital and Social Media Policy

POLICY NUMBER POLICY VERSION RATIFYING COMMITTEE DATE RATIFIED DATE OF EQUALITY & HUMAN RIGHTS IMPACT ASSESSMENT (EHRIA) NEXT REVIEW DATE POLICY SPONSOR POLICY AUTHOR

127/Corporate 1.1 Technology Board 20/12/16 27/10/14 Ref: TK 200 20/12/2017 Executive Director of Corporate Services Digital Innovations Group

Executive summary This policy applies to all staff throughout the organisation and sets out the standards and common policy directions for the use and development of any digital solutions and social media. Key policy issues  

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We embrace social media and welcome its use by staff No patient identifiable or commercially sensitive information should be published on the intranet, website, app or any other site (unless it has been specifically designed for this purpose and you have express permission). If you have any doubts whatsoever then do not publish and check with the Information Governance team. Anything published on any Trust-owned digital platform must not be discriminatory, abusive, offensive or inflammatory Any information you post on personal social media sites is effectively public. It may have an impact on your and the Trust’s professional reputation. It’s important to behave the same on social media as you would in other areas of your professional and personal life. Inappropriate behaviour on social media may affect your employment with the Trust Photography: To avoid copyright issues, no photographs should be added to digital offerings without evidence that the image is able to be used freely (as in the NHS picture library). Permission from the Communications Team is needed to create social media sites relating to the Trust or its clinical or corporate services Teams and departments will be responsible for their own sections of the staff intranet. Teams with their own section must identify authors and approvers Authors are responsible for creating the basic content. Approvers are responsible for checking all content for which they have charge and ensuring it is line with content and legal guidelines When writing for the web use clear and simple language 1

If you require this document in another format such as large print, audio or other community language please contact the Governance Support Team on 01903 845735. Did you print this document yourself? Please be advised that the Trust discourages the printing and retention of hard copies of policies and can guarantee that the policy on the Trust website is the most up-to-date version. As a contingency a full set of up-to-date Trust policies are held by the Governance Support Team based at Trust HQ, Swandean

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CONTENTS PAGE

1.0 Introduction 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4

Purpose of policy Definitions Scope of policy Principles

2.0 Policy Statement 3.0 Duties 4.0 Procedure 5.0 Development, consultation and ratification 6.0 Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment (EHRIA) 7.0 Monitoring Compliance 8.0 Dissemination and Implementation of policy 9.0 Document Control including Archive Arrangements 10.0 Reference documents 11.0 Bibliography 12.0 Cross reference 13.0 Appendices

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1.0 Introduction 1.1 Purpose of policy This policy sets out minimum policy standards and common policy directions across The Trust for the use and development of all digital solutions, including but not limited to:  website(s)  intranet  microsites  smartphone and other mobile device apps  social media (including but not limited to Facebook and Twitter, and any in house developed solutions). 1.2 Definitions Term Domain

URL

Definition This is the name or description given to the area where a website exists on the Internet URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. A URL is the address of a website page or document on the Internet or presented in HTTP format on the Trust networks (e.g. Trust Intranet).

Example www.sussexpartnershp.nhs.uk

Anatomy of a URL - http:// www.sussexpartnership.nhs.uk /home.html http:// - short for Hypertext Transfer Protocol www. - page on the World Wide Web sussexpartnership.nhs.uk - the domain name home.html - this is the web page inside the folder.

IP Address

Sub-site

CMS

An IP Address is the numerical address of a computer on the Internet or another network. Every web site is given an IP Address by their website host and all websites can be found by their IP address. This is another website under the main website

912.12.723.5

A content management system (CMS) is a system used to manage the content of a website. It allows technical and non-technical staff to create, edit, manage and publish a

Joomla

www.sussexpartnership.nhs.uk /ppsa

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Plug-in

Alt text

Metadata

variety of content in a number of formats. A plug-in is a software application that adds on to larger software applications such as a World Wide Web Browser. The text you see before an image is loaded on a web page; or with some web browsers, the text that appears when you put your mouse on top of an image. A website author can code an alt tag when building a web page to say anything he/she wants. Metadata is data used to describe other data. It is added in the section of the webpage or is stored in a database. It is available for searching but is not displayed on the page.

Adobe Acrobat

Usually a description of a picture/image.

Author, title, web address, brief description of subject material.

1.3 Scope of policy This policy applies to all employees of The Trust, contracted third parties (including agency staff), staff on secondment with the organisation, staff of other organisations who have approved access, and students and trainees i.e. all who access, or who are granted access, to the Trust networks and associated resources. 1.4 Principles We embrace social media and welcome its use by staff. Benefits include:  ability to get feedback and good ideas from staff, patients etc, fuelling innovation and improvement  sharing news and keeping people in the loop  continuing professional development – staff can access educational material/learn from others  networking and connecting with key influencers. 1.5 We also welcome teams to be responsible for their own areas of the staff intranet. This will mean pages are kept more up to date and content will be more relevant to the particular team and others. 1.6 Legal issues Everything published on Trust digital solutions must be information that a reasonable person would not find discriminatory, abusive, offensive or inflammatory.

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Photography: To avoid copyright issues, no photographs should be added to digital offerings without evidence that the image is able to be used freely (as in the NHS picture library). Written permission must always be given by those being photographed, be they patients, relatives, visitors or staff. These are available from the Digital and Systems Integration Group section on the intranet. Please be aware that the copyright for a photograph is retained by the photographer. You must ensure that we have permission from the photographer (be they amateur or professional) to use the photograph on Trust digital solutions. Company or individual copyrights and trademarks: Material owned by another person or organisation must not be republished on our website without explicit, documented permission. This includes articles, pictures, graphics and trademarks etc and either in whole or part. Once written permission is gained, the owner of the information, pictures etc must be accredited at the bottom of the page. 2.0 Policy statement 2.1 We recognise that the Internet provides unique opportunities to participate in interactive discussions and share information on particular topics using a wide variety of social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs and wikis. However, employees' use of social media can pose risks to our confidential and proprietary information, and reputation, and can jeopardise our compliance with statutory and regulatory obligations. 2.2 To minimise these risks, to avoid loss of productivity, and to ensure that our IT resources and communications systems are used only for appropriate business purposes, employees are to adhere to this policy. 3.0 Duties The Digital Innovations Group manages the Trust’s digital solution portfolio and is responsible for the strategic direction and continuous improvement of the intranet. It is not responsible for all content on the intranet. This lies with individual departments and teams. The Trust website and branding is the responsibility of the Communications team. Individual digital solutions such as microsites and apps are owned by the department that commissions them with input and support from the communications team and as such they are responsible for ensuring they meet the requirements of this policy. 4.0 Procedure The Trust intranet Teams and departments will be responsible for their own sections of the staff intranet. This means they must ensure their own section is kept up to date and relevant and must not contain outdated or inaccurate information. Teams with their own section of the site must identify authors and approvers as detailed below. If any of the people with these roles are on leave or leave the Trust a substitute person must be identified. These roles should be submitted to the IT and Communications teams when they are identified along with contact details. Once content has been 6

approved it will automatically be sent to the communications team for final review before it is published. Approvers Approvers will be responsible for checking all content for which they have charge and ensuring it is line with: ● Appendix 1 - Content: legal and branding ● Appendix 3: Writing for the web. Authors Authors will be responsible for creating the basic content in line with: ● Appendix 1 - Content: legal and branding ● Appendix 3: Writing for the web. Once completed and checked it is sent to the designated Approver for their Department. Authors are also responsible for: ● regularly updating the information that they have provided ● responding to requests from the Digital Innovations Group to update their information. If this is not done, then the content may be removed. Contributors Contributors are any members of staff who wish to add information to any digital solutions. They will be responsible for liaising with the approved authors for the particular section they wish to contribute to. The authors will then make sure that this information conforms to the style guidelines and Web Checklist. To create new pages or areas on the intranet requests must be made to the IT solutions team. Training Training is available to Approvers and Authors who have been nominated by their department and can be arranged by contacting the Solutions Team in the IT team. Details can be found on the Trust intranet. Overview of user responsibilities Authors and Approvers can: ● use internet access and the Content Management System to publish or change information, articles or documents within Trust digital solutions ● use their designated username and password to modify or add information to digital solutions. It is the responsibility of the nominated Trust Approvers (those with “approver rights”) to keep their specified area up-to-date.

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Definitions: ● Up-to-date - when maintaining an area of any digital solutions, keeping ‘up-todate’ means that the Approver should ensure that all of the information in their area are “relevant for use and current”. Examples of this would be: o web links within a page are current and still work o information with a deadline should be removed once that deadline is passed o all contact details and details of teams should be accurate, anyone leaving or joining should be removed or added o processes – ie where to send forms, who to ask about an issue etc should be accurate. No patient identifiable or commercially sensitive information should be published on the intranet, website, app or any other site (unless it has been specifically designed for this purpose and you have express permission). If you have any doubts whatsoever then do not publish and check with the Information Governance team. Master documents When publishing any document, only one master document should be used. If any document or article is needed in more than one place, it should be uploaded to a master location and then linked to with a URL. Authors and Approvers cannot: ● use the Content Management System for personal use in any circumstance ● access a digital solution with any other web-based tool other than the specified Content Management System ● download software via the Content Management System interface on any computer without the authorisation of the Solutions team ● view or send offensive, defamatory or illegal material or breach the confidentiality of any individuals or organisations ● access the Trust digital solutions using any other method or using any username other than their own ● publish or make available personal/patient data, via websites, discussion boards, social media, chat rooms or any other digital solutions whatsoever, including the Trust site ● misrepresent the Trust or enter into contractual agreements (unless specifically authorised to present views of the organisation or engage in on-line purchasing).

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Future digital development A digital innovations group has been established as a sub-group of the Trust’s Technology Board. This group has the following key objectives: 1. provide reassurance to the Technology Board on matters of integration and nonduplication in terms of the Trust’s digital solutions and key systems/applications 2. consider the demands for digital projects against the time and resource available to the Trust and to prioritise those projects 3. when projects commence, the Digital Innovations Group will also monitor progress, (both in terms of activity and finance) of the project. Full details of the Digital Innovations Group’s Terms of Reference can be found on the staff intranet at http://bit.ly/1GLo8ci or by searching ‘Digital Innovations Group’. Social media The following guidance is to be read in conjunction with the IT and Information Security Policy that can be found in the Corporate Policies section of the Trust website. NHS Employers have also published a very helpful guide to using social media in the NHS which can be found at: http://bit.ly/17cxdQK Any information you post on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook is effectively public. It may have an impact on your professional reputation and that of the Trust. All information posted online can be copied and redistributed beyond your control and may have unforeseen consequences. It is safest to assume that anything you post online may be available for the foreseeable future and will be available to view by others across the world (including prospective future employers). One way to keep your personal and professional life separate on social media is to use privacy settings to manage, as much as you can, who can see any information you share online. Above all, it is important to observe the same standards of behaviour on social media as you would in other areas of your professional and personal life. If at any point you are using social media for reasons unrelated to work during your contracted hours, you should give very careful consideration as to how this might affect perceptions of your performance and focus on your job. If there is any concern that disproportionate use of social media for personal reasons during contracted working hours is affecting your ability to undertake your professional duties, disciplinary action may be considered. If you are using social media during breaks and lunchtimes, there may be potential health and safety implications, The Trust encourages its employees to take their breaks away from the computer screens. 9

Among the things to take into consideration that may impact on your employment, you should not use social media to:        

share confidential or sensitive information about patients or any aspects of the Trust’s business post inappropriate comments about colleagues or patients bully or intimidate colleagues pursue personal relationships with patients post sexually explicit material post material that is unlawfully discriminatory post any material which could reasonably be considered offensive by others engage in unlawful activity.

Inappropriate behaviour on social media may affect your employment with the Trust and / or your professional registration. You do not have to accept online abuse and can take action if you are subjected to this. Most social network sites have a facility for reporting abusive activity. If you have concerns and the source of the abuse is from another Trust/NHS employee you should raise this with your line manager, who should inform HR. In the most serious circumstances, where there is unlawful activity, it may be appropriate to report this to the police. You are not permitted to create social media sites relating to the Trust or its clinical or corporate services without the express permission of the Communications Team. For further information please contact the communications team. 5.0 Development, consultation and ratification  This policy has been developed by the Digital Innovations Group, a sub group of the Technology Board. The policy will be ratified by the Technology Board and reviewed annually. 6.0 Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment (EHRIA) The policy has been equality impact assessed in accordance with the Procedural Documents Policy. 7.0 Monitoring Compliance The Digital Innovations Group, IT Team and Communications Team will report to the Technology Board any areas of concern regarding compliance of this policy. The Technology Board will agree any audits applicable to this policy. 8.0 Dissemination and Implementation of policy This policy will be uploaded onto the Trust website by the Governance Support Team. Publication will be announced via the Communications e-bulletin to all staff. 10

9.0 Document Control including Archive Arrangements This policy will be stored and archived in accordance with the Trust Procedural Documents Policy. 10.0

Reference documents  

11.0

Bibliography 

12.0

Trust brand guidelines Trust photo consent form

Writing for the Web: Copyright: Webcredible http://www.webcredible.co.uk/userfriendly-resources/web-usability/web-content.shtml

Cross reference   

IT and Information Security Policy Disciplinary Policy & Procedure NHS Employers: New to the NHS? Your guide to using social media in the NHS

13.0 Appendices to this Policy: Appendix 1 – Content: legal and branding Appendix 2 – Writing for the Web

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Appendix 1 to Digital and Social Media Policy

Appendix 1- Content: legal and branding Legal considerations ● Is what you wish to publish acceptable? Ask yourself if you would feel confident putting your information on a staff notice-board? If the answer is no, then don’t put it onto any digital solutions. ● Photography: Have you got written permission from the subjects of the photograph to put it onto any digital solutions. Did you get a consent form signed and is it still valid? ● Company or Individual copyrights and trademarks: Do you have written permission to use someone else’s material (in whole or part). This includes articles, pictures, graphics, trademarks etc from one person or an organisation. If so, have you acknowledged the owner of the information at the bottom of the article/page? Using logos from other organisation Before adding any logos please contact the Trust Communications Team. If a partner’s logo appears in your article, you will need to respect their identity without compromising the Trust identity. Third-party logos should only appear on the page where appropriate and the relationship between the third-party and The Trust should be clearly explained in the text. Using other people’s names (including staff) All contributors must give consent for their names to appear on any digital solutions. Where possible, just use the person’s job title instead of their name. This applies especially to staff as they may leave the organisation soon after the article is published on the site. If you are providing contact details for external employees/organisations, try to provide a general e-mail address e.g. [email protected] rather than someone specific as this may lead to them receiving “Spam” e-mail. Branding All digital solutions must adhere to Trust brand guidelines and NHS Identity guidelines. A copy of these can be obtained from the Communications Team. Content management user guides Guides are available from the Solutions team area of the intranet.

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Appendix 2 - Writing for the web Copyright: Webcredible http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/webusability/web-content.shtml Web writing is totally different to writing for printed matter. We tend to scan content on the web hunting for the information we're after, as opposed to reading word-for-word. As a result of this, there are certain guidelines you should be sure to follow when writing copy for your website: 1. Use clear and simple language Reading from computer screens is tiring for the eyes and about 25% slower than reading from printed matter. As such, the easier the style of writing the easier it is for site visitors to absorb your words of wisdom.

Some techniques for using clear and simple language include: 

avoid slang or jargon - share it with someone who knows nothing about the subject. If they can understand it then you’ve done well.



use shorter words where possible - ‘Begin’ rather than ‘commence’, ‘used to’ rather than ‘accustomed to’ etc.



avoid complex sentence structures - try to include just one idea or concept per sentence



use active ahead of passive words - ‘We won the award’ is shorter and easier to comprehend than, ‘The award was won by us’

2. Limit each paragraph to one idea If you assign just one idea to each paragraph site visitors can: 

easily scan through each paragraph



get the general gist of what the paragraph is about



then move on to the next paragraph.

All this and without fear that they'll be skipping over important information, because they will already know roughly what the paragraph is about.

Limiting each paragraph to just one idea is especially effective when combined with frontloading paragraph content.

3. Front-load content Front-loading content means putting the conclusion first, followed by the what, how, where, when and why. The first line of each paragraph should contain the conclusion for that paragraph, so site visitors can: ● quickly scan through the opening sentence ● instantly understand what the paragraph is about ● decide if they want to read the rest of the paragraph or not. Because each paragraph contains just one idea, users can do all this safe in the knowledge that if they jump to the next paragraph they won't be missing any new concepts.

Front-loading also applies to web pages, as well as paragraphs. The opening paragraph on every page should always contain the conclusion of that page. This way, site visitors can instantly gain an understanding of what the page is about and decide whether they want to read the page or not.

Unfortunately many websites don't adhere to this guideline and end up writing page content in a story-format. On each page there's an introduction, middle and conclusion, in that order. Unfortunately, when scanning through web content we don't tend to read all the text nor read all the way to the bottom of the screen. As such, you may easily miss the conclusion if it's left until the end.

So remember, conclusion first, everything else second! For a great example of frontloaded content, just read any newspaper article. The opening paragraph is always the conclusion of the article. 4. Use descriptive sub-headings Breaking up text with descriptive sub-headings allows site visitors to easily see what each section of the page is about. The main heading on the page provides a brief overall view of what the page is about, and the opening paragraph gives a brief conclusion of the page (because you've front-loaded the page content). Within the page though, there are various sub-themes which can be quickly put across with sub-headings.

There's no hard and fast rule for how frequently to use sub-headings, but you should probably be roughly aiming for one sub-heading every two to four paragraphs. More

importantly though, the sub-headings should group on-page content into logical groups, to allow site visitors to easily access the information that they're after. 5. Bolden important words Another way to help users locate information quickly and easily is to bolden important words in some paragraphs. When site visitors scan through the screen this text stands out to them, so do make sure the text makes sense out of context.

Bolden two to three words which describe the main point of the paragraph, and not words on which you're placing emphasis. By seeing these boldened words site visitors can instantly gain an understanding of what the paragraph is about and decide whether or not they want to read it. 6. Use descriptive link text In the same way that bold text stands out to screen-scanning web users, so does link text. Link text such as ‘click here’ makes no sense whatsoever out of context so is useless to site visitors scanning web pages. To find out the destination of the link, site visitors have to hunt through the text both before and after the link text. 7. Use lists Lists are preferable to long paragraphs because they: ● Allow users to read the information vertically rather than horizontally ● Are easier to scan ● Are less intimidating ● Are usually more succinct 8. Left-align text Left-aligned text is easier to read than justified text, which in turn is easier to read than centre- or right-aligned text.

When reading through justified text the spacing between each word is different so our eyes have to search for the next word. This slows down our reading speed. Right- and centrealigned paragraphs slow down reading speed even more because each time you finish reading one line your eye has to search for the beginning of the next line.

9. Use ‘alt-text’ for images Alternative text is the description of a picture that you see when you put your mouse over the image, and it needs to be added to comply with accessibility guidelines. In situations where the image is not available to the reader, because they have turned off images in their web browser or are using a screen reader due to a visual impairment, the alternative text makes sure that no information or functionality is lost. Absent or unhelpful alternative text can be a source of frustration for visually impaired users of the Web. Instructions on how to add alt-text will be covered by the Solutions team during CMS training. Conclusion These nine guidelines are nothing revolutionary nor are they difficult to implement. Yet so many websites structure their content so poorly to the detriment of their site visitors. Have a quick look over your website now - how does it do with regards to these content guidelines?

This article was written by Trenton Moss, director and founder of the user experience consultancy, Webcredible.