On the
record. Always.

Yes, with prior arrangement through Corporate Communications, and always with an escort. Clinical areas, the emergency unit, theatres and the intensive care unit need specific approval from the department head as well, and there are places where the answer will simply be no because patients cannot meaningfully consent in the moment. Give us two working days where you can. Breaking news gets handled faster, but never without an escort.

No, not without written consent from the patient or, where the patient cannot consent, their next of kin. This holds for admissions, condition, cause of injury and whether a named person is even in the building, including for people in the public eye and for cases already circulating on social media. Confirming that someone is here is itself a disclosure. Please do not read a refusal as an evasion.

In a mass casualty or public incident we issue a factual holding statement covering the number of casualties received and their broad condition, without names or identifying detail, and update it as the picture becomes clear. Requests are handled centrally rather than by clinicians in the corridor, so that treatment is not interrupted and the information you get is accurate.

Usually yes, and this is the request we are happiest to get. Tell us the topic and your deadline, and we will offer the clinician who actually does that work. They will speak to general clinical practice, prevention and what patients should watch for. They will not comment on another hospital's case, on an ongoing legal matter, or on a named individual's treatment.

In editorial coverage of the hospital, yes, unmodified, with clear space around it and no recolouring. It may not be used in advertising, on merchandise, in a way that implies endorsement of a product or service, or alongside another organisation's mark in a way that suggests partnership. The press kit includes the correct files and the minimum sizes. Ask us if your use is not obviously editorial.

We do not ask for editorial approval and would not expect it. We are glad to fact check a quotation, a clinical claim, a name or a job title before you publish, and we would much rather do that than issue a correction afterwards. Send the passage and we will turn it around quickly.

Only where the patient has approached us themselves or has given written consent in advance, arranged through Communications with the treating team's knowledge. We do not walk journalists onto a ward to find someone willing to talk, and we do not approach patients on your behalf during an acute admission. Recovery stories are usually best told after discharge.

Commercial approaches, advertising sales and sponsorship proposals should go to the marketing team rather than the press desk, and the media address is not the right route. It slows down journalists who are on deadline. Anything commercial sent to the press inbox will simply be forwarded on.