THE cost of the controversial rebranding of the Canberra Health Services is reckoned to be at least $1.5 million according to documents obtained under freedom of information by the Canberra Liberals.
Health spokesperson Leanne Castley says the heavily redacted documents reveal $800,000 is earmarked for a Melbourne design studio to address the CHS “brand identity crisis” and up to $850,000 for dedicated staff, who are also supported by an extended in-house CHS “Brand Team”.
The documents say that the $800,000 fee is for coming up with brand designs, a “tone of voice”, defining “who we are, what we stand for” and for developing fictional stakeholder “personas”, brand performance metrics and a rebrand strategy.
She says a 40-page “Brand Project Program Plan 2022-24”, developed by CHS’ Strategic Communication and Engagement Team goes into every conceivable aspect of the rebrand project, including stakeholder identification, mapping and analysis.
Castley says the FoI documents show the rebrand relies on the “muddle-headed assumption” that lack of clear branding is impacting CHS’ becoming a leading specialist provider and that a rebrand will improve the perceived quality of its services.
“Canberra’s public health system used to be a world leader because it offered the best health services. This is what the government should be focusing on. There’s little point having a new brand if services don’t improve,” Castley says.
“Where is this government’s mind at? $1.6m would pay for 60 hip replacements, 400 cataract operations or 600 MRIs.”
Even the official briefs to the Health and Mental Health Ministers concede that, “there may be concerns from the public and stakeholders on their perception of the value of the brand project in delivering benefit to consumers.”
Castley says hundreds of pages had been redacted on grounds this would prejudice trade secrets of an agency or person.
“While some redactions of personal information and the like are acceptable, others appear over-zealous redactions of criticisms of CHS,” she says.
“I will therefore be asking the ACT Ombudsman to review aspects of this FoI decision.”
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