Note 1: Some services will have their set labels. 

For example: For psychology, you will say psychologists. For paediatrics, you will refer to them as paediatricians. 

Note 2: If you are generalising a whole clinic with multiple types of members (e.g., mental health), address them all as ‘practitioners.’ 

USING BULLET POINTS: 

Use these to break up long sentences. Make them concise. Punctuate with full stops as this supports the decisive nature of our brand. 

For example: 

❌  5 Reasons Online Learning is Hard For Some Children

Given the long-form nature of this blog, it is best to provide a reader with a quick summary at the start to explain what an entire blog will dive deeper into: 

5 Reasons Online Learning is Hard for Some Children: 

✅  Why is online learning so difficult? With many schools turning to online learning to teach their students, virtual learning is still something both the parents and child are not adept with. Here are some of the possible roadblocks causing resentment: 

1. The compartmentalisation of physical space in children’s mind
2. Distractions at home 
3. Loss of social interactions and familiar routine 
4. The new role of parents to wear multiple hats 
5. The skill demand vs adoption time

USAGE OF CAPITAL LETTERS: 

Addressing the practitioners and their job titles: If a job title is attributed to a doctor, it should have capital letters without punctuations. 

For Example: 

❌  Dr. Tim trodd, family medicine, functional medicine, general practice 

✅  Dr Tim Trodd, Family Medicine, Functional Medicine, General Practice 

MEDIA QUOTES, PRESS RELEASES:

Always Bold the spokesperson name. The quote should be in italics. Only use ‘single’ speech marks when highlighting a direct quote from someone. Close the quotation marks first, then write the period or comma. 

For example: https://www.otandp.com/blog/vitamin-d-and-covid-19

❌  Charles Bangham, professor of immunology at Imperial College London and co-author of the Royal Society paper, said: “I started from quite a sceptical position, doubting whether vitamin D was going to play an important role in COVID-19, but I am now convinced that there is strong evidence that people who are deficient in vitamin D are more susceptible to acute respiratory tract infections.”

✅  Charles Bangham, Professor of Immunology at Imperial College London and Co-Author of the Royal Society Paper, said: ‘I started from quite a sceptical position, doubting whether vitamin D was going to play an important role in COVID-19, but I am now convinced that there is strong evidence that people who are deficient in vitamin D are more susceptible to acute respiratory tract infections’.

ACRONYMS:

Acronyms can be a real barrier to communication. Especially if you assume the patient knows what the acronym stands for. If you must use acronyms, please ensure you write out what they mean in brackets on your copy’s first appearance (you can then revert to using the acronym). The initial letter of each acronym should always be uppercase. 

❌  External cephalic version (ECV)

✅  ECV (External Cephalic Version) 

POINTS OF VIEW:

✅  When talking about us as a brand, always use the first-person narrative: ‘We’, ‘Ours’

✅ When writing a blog that includes an opinion or opinionated tone, use ‘I’, ‘Me’. 

✅  When addressing a patient, potential patient or staff, we want to use a more compelling writing method, so use the second person narrative: ‘You’.

❌ Personal opinions by doctors on healthcare systems of the country, views on industry trends should NOT be associated with the brand OT&P or form a narrative that displays your view as an official representation of OT&P Healthcare. 

COMMON CONTRACTIONS:

Using common contractions will make it warm and friendly, but don’t use too many – becoming over-familiar will make our tone of voice too ‘chatty’, diluting its professionalism. 

• You will – You’ll 
• We have – We’ve 
• We are – We’re
• We will – We’ll 
• Will not – Won’t 
• You are – You’re 
• You have – You’ve

THE AMPERSAND (&):

Please use ‘and’ within body text rather than the ampersand. The ampersand can be used in headlines and social media when you need to keep your headline/post as short as possible.