Mainstream 2013
Sharing news about the Trust directly with staff.
Latest edition: 
May 2013 (748 kb) posted on 24th May.
Results of our readers' survey 2012
Mainstream 2013
April 2013 (843 kb)
March 2013 (984 kb)
February 2013 (762 kb)
January 2013 (695 kb)
Every March, June, September and December we send a printed copy of Mainstream to all public members. Originally a staff newsletter, Mainstream replaced FT Members' Update for public members in 2009, but remains a staff magazine too.
We publish Mainstream monthly for distribution within the hospitals. And every edition is available on this page for reading, downloading and printing. But if you would like to receive your own monthly personal copy (or copies), please subscribe here.
Contributions: Send your photos, news or articles to info@colchesterhospital.nhs.uk or phone me directly.
Distribution: 2,000 copies monthly to around 140 locations across the Trust and 7,000+ to Public members in March, June, September, December.
Paul Searle | Head of Communications
01206 742348 (office hours)
Results of our readers' survey 2012
At the end of 2012, we asked what readers thought of Mainstream and there was a fantastic response.
There were 340 replies, including 116 from the public, patients and public members of the Trust. Three-quarters of the 224 staff who responded were from Colchester General Hospital and a further 15% from Essex County Hospital.
The aim of Mainstream is 'sharing news about the Trust directly with staff and public members'. Overall, 97% of respondents agreed it achieved this, with 77% saying it was fully met and 22% partly met. Only five respondents disagreed.
Nearly all respondents (97%) were interested in developments within the Trust, but four staff and six public were not interested.
Eight out of 10 public respondents and 68% of staff said that when they read Mainstream it was "new" news and that it was their main news source about the Trust.
Eight out of 10 public respondents had their copy delivered at home and nearly one-third of all respondents (29.6%) read Mainstream from "cover to cover" as soon as it arrived. A third (33.8%) read "most of it" straightaway. This compared with 15.2% of staff respondents reading it cover to cover, 33.3% reading most of it, and 50% flicking through it as soon as it arrived. Four out of 10 people read most of Mainstream again later the same month.
Only 12 respondents said they would like to contribute an item to Mainstream. But there were many suggestions about what they would like to see more and less of! The vast majority (90%) thought Mainstream was published frequently enough - 10 people thought it came out "too often".
More than 100 people passed their copies of Mainstream onto others and 74 said up to five people read their copy, with 22 saying more than five others.
Overall, the response rate, positive comments and enthusiasm shown for the magazine is very pleasing. As one staff respondent wrote: "I find Mainstream a very informative publication but am quite happy to read, not contribute." And as a member of the public wrote: "All is of great interest. As an exhospital service worker (now age 84), its great stuff."
Paul Searle | Head of Communications
24 January 2013
