8 March 2024

The pre-election period is set to begin in our regions on 21 March 2024.

Additionally, elections will be held for the Police and Crime Commissioner and the Mayor for the Liverpool Combined Authority.

During the pre-election period, there should be:

  • no new announcements of policy or strategy
  • no announcements on large and/or contentious procurement contracts
  • no participation by NHS representatives in debates and events that may be politically controversial, either at national or local level.

These restrictions apply in all cases other than where postponement would be detrimental to the effective running of the local NHS, or wasteful of public money. If you need to know more, please contact communications@merseycare.nhs.uk

Points to consider

  • Requests for information: should be handled in an impartial manner so that information is made available to all candidates. Information should be factual, and candidates should be responded to in a timely manner
  • Briefing MPs and ministers: should be handled as per the usual process (via Communications), ensuring any information shared is factual
  • Consultations: no public consultations should be launched during the pre-election period unless considered essential. Ongoing consultations should continue but not be promoted. Consultation periods can be extended if it is expected that the pre-election period will impact negatively on the quality of the consultation. Consultation responses should not be published until after the pre-election period
  • Events: avoid attending events where you may be asked to respond to questions about policy or on matters of public controversy. This may mean withdrawing from previously agreed engagements
  • Visits from politicians: the decision to host visits is at the Trust’s discretion. The same approach must be applied to all visit requests from candidates/parties to avoid any question of bias
  • Campaigns: do not undertake major publicity campaigns unless time critical (eg. a public health emergency)
  • Marketing: printed materials, such as posters and leaflets, promoting contentious policy or proposed policy should not be given fresh circulation, but can be retained and issued in small numbers on request. Films and other media produced by the NHS, including the NHS logo, should not be made available for use by candidates/parties
  • Staff activism: NHS employees are free to undertake political activism in a personal capacity but should not involve their organisation or create the impression of their organisation’s involvement or endorsement.
Return to Trust news