Building on the this summer's 'We are the NHS', which has helped attract more than 260,000 people to its recruitment website over the past three months, the second phase of the campaign is targeting students in their final years of A-levels, and those who are taking a year out before university.

All activity will target social-media users and highlight courses and careers in mental-health, learning-disability and community nursing, as well as other health professions. The aim is to increase the number of students applying for degree courses for allied health professions, and the number of nursing degree students choosing community and primary care as their first destination once qualified.

The campaign is timed to coincide with the start of the academic year and will run until UCAS applications close on 15 January, 2019.

The latest wave of activity will use elements such as short films of nurses caring for patients, which can be shared across social media. A number of videos are already being shared on Facebook, with messages similar to those in the first phase.

Filming for the second phase took place at Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust, South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust, and North East London NHS Foundation Trust.

The NHS said that it would evaluate the campaign rigorously, in line with the GCS best practice framework, with quantitative tracking research, and by traffic to specific web pages. The comms team is also working with UCAS to measure the number of applications generated through the activity.

Meanwhile, 'We are the NHS', which ran alongside Health Education England's #KnowAboutNursing campaign, has resulted in UCAS data showing that 31 per cent more students are choosing a nursing degree course during the clearing period following this year's A-level results.

The activity kicked off in July this year to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the NHS. As well as boosting visits to the NHS recruitment website, it bolstered searches for general nursing information on the Health Careers website by 243 per cent. Its aim is to increase the total number of applications into the NHS by 90,000.

Jane Cummings, chief nursing officer for England, said: "I am really pleased that our campaign has been so successful, with over a quarter of a million people looking for information about nursing careers since its launch in July.

"The campaign is supported by over 1,250 ambassadors who are working locally to transform the perceptions of our profession."

Source: PRweek