The brief
In 2021, SYNLAB formed a partnership with Guy’s and St Thomas’, and King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trusts to deliver and transform NHS pathology services across south east London – believed to be one of the largest pathology transformations in UK healthcare history.
As SYNLAB’s trusted communications partner since 2020, MIH Solutions had already supported the successful bid to secure the pathology contract. Its enactment would require a series of careful political manoeuverings internally and externally, with SYNLAB having stepped into a space already occupied by the existing pathology services provider, Viapath, and its proud and loyal workforce.
With expertise in healthcare and transformational change, MIH was commissioned to create and implement a strategic communications and engagement programme. Aimed at staff, service users and external stakeholders, it would help facilitate a smooth transition to new organisational arrangements and put in place the foundations required for longer-term success.

What we did
The transformation of pathology services for hospitals, GPs, community services and other NHS healthcare providers in south east London would be of an unparalleled scale, bringing with it unprecedented challenges.
Our first priority was to connect with the in-house internal communication team, as well as build new relationships with communications leads within partner organisations and across the local healthcare system. Key to success was establishing both strong relationships and a programme governance framework through which communications and engagement resources – when combined – would best complement each other and deliver optimum value for all parties. It would also ensure clear delineation between organisational roles, responsibilities and resources, as well as between ‘business as usual’ and ‘transformation’ activities.
We designed a series of activities to introduce SYNLAB with the incumbent provider, service users and stakeholders in a constructive, engaging and reassuring way. We helped gain buy-in to SYNLAB as an organisation and the proposed transformational programme, both internally and externally, paving the way for the ingress of services and the transition of staff into the new partnership.
This work included:
• Leading the co-creation and delivery of an overarching communications and engagement plan, catering to the needs of each of the partnership’s programme workstreams, leads, stakeholders and their respective needs, priorities and risks
• Working with all parties to co-develop an overarching vision and mission statement for the new partnership
• Establishing a communications workstream steering group plus delivery meetings for the communications workstream to oversee staff and clinical engagement and ensure alignment across all parties
• Researching, creating and implementing a consolidated internal communications and engagement schedule, identifying relevant channels through which to target colleagues, service users and external stakeholders
• Planning and creating a raft of communications assets / activities to support the go-live of the partnership (e.g. ‘Big Conversations’ and supporting the recruitment and induction of a Change Champions network)
Having established a regular rhythm of communications to complement those already in place by the in-house team, we focused on the development of a new brand, including visual identity, values and narrative, to signal the start of a new era in pathology services for south east London. This culminated in a launch programme which heralded the benefits to come following transformation.
Since 2021, MIH has continued to deliver a plethora of communications solutions for Synnovis, adapting with agility to the ever-changing priorities of the service transformation schedule. This highly political and often sensitive activity has extended across the full breadth of the workforce, NHS and the local Integrated Care System, including primary and community care, acute hospitals, mental health and other providers, commissioners, local councils, public-sector suppliers, regional and national regulators and other bodies.
As its trusted partner, we have also supported Synnovis on those few occasions where things haven’t gone to plan - which is to be expected for a transformation programme of this scale and complexity. Experienced in crisis handling and media liaison, our team has been ever-responsive in guiding leaders on the necessary actions required to provide stakeholders, staff and customers with the reassurance they need; and afterwards to help rebuild reputation and confidence in services. Our proactive media skills training sessions, specifically tailored for members of the SYNLAB and Synnovis senior leadership teams, supplemented this effort.
The result
The strategic communications expertise provided to Synnovis has been invaluable in helping to lay the foundations for a new era of pathology services in the UK’s capital. Calling on our broad experience and successful track record in the NHS and healthcare, MIH identified and tailored tactics relevant to the full spectrum of stakeholders, navigating political sensitivities sometimes unforeseen by the organisation, and ensuring that clear, cohesive messaging landed in the most appropriate way to drive the required behaviours and perceptions.
Our work has helped to unite SYNLAB, Synnovis and its NHS partners through a shared vision, with the needs of patients and service users at its heart. Despite the size, scale and public scrutiny associated with the transformation programme, our activities have had a hugely positive impact in safeguarding and enhancing the partnership’s reputation as a trailblazer in the pathology field.
We continue to support Synnovis in delivering the three-year transformation, with a more recent refocus on external communications and stakeholder management as the organisation builds its in-house communications team.