We ask that you follow these guidelines when you reply to posts or publish posts on Nelson Marlborough Health social media accounts.

The guidelines apply to people who follow NMH social media and people who do not follow but who have received a sponsored NMH post on their own social media page. Anyone who objects to seeing a NMH sponsored post on Facebook can choose to ‘hide all ads’ (see how to do this in the links below). 

Rules of engagement

1. Be respectful
Bullying, insults, name-calling, harassment, offensive language, threats, spamming or discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated.

2. No trolling
A troll is a person who attempts to intentionally create discord on a social media forum by posting inflammatory, divisive, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages or questions.
Trolls may also try to dominate a social media thread (conversation) by changing the topic the original post was about. A troll may also attempt to dominate a post by ridiculing, attacking or intimidating other users who respond to their comments in the thread.

3. Keep it legal
Do not break the law or encourage others to do so. This includes defamation, breaching privacy or copyright, condoning illegal activity and contempt of court, harmful digital communication and cyber bullying.

4. Protect privacy
Do not post personal information that can be used to identify or locate you or other individuals. This includes addresses, phone numbers, photos and email addresses. To do so may constitute a privacy breach.
Be careful about sharing information about (including photos) people who are not able to give their consent to this, eg children and unwell or unconscious people in hospital.

5. Be yourself
Facebook requires people to connect using authentic identities. The use of multiple accounts for the purpose of trolling or harassing other users is prohibited.

6. No solicitation or campaigning
Do not use NMH social media accounts for your own, or someone else’s, commercial or political purposes.

How Nelson Marlborough Health moderates social media conversation

Nelson Marlborough Health (NMH) reserves the right to:

i) Determine what constitutes inappropriate content (posts)

ii) Determine whether a post breaches NMH Social Media User Terms of Engagement

iii) Hide or remove inappropriate posts or posts that breach NMH Social Media User Terms of Engagement

iv) Hide or remove posts that could be detrimental to public health, eg anti-immunisation information

v) Hide or remove posts that attempt to undermine or turn people against official public health advice, eg COVID-19 Alert Level rules and guidance

vi) Block users who continue to disregard the NMH Social Media User Terms of Engagement

vii) Ask you to find use an alternative channel to share information and views that are important to you but that we deem to be potentially detrimental to public health.

How Nelson Marlborough Health responds to questions and requests via social media

NMH will try to respond to health-related questions in 48 hours or less. There may be a delay on weekends and public holidays.

Nelson Marlborough Health will respond to most questions. We may not, however, respond to questions that are an attempt to share and promote misinformation, in the form of a question.

How Nelson Marlborough Health responds to complaints via social media

It’s good to hear if we get things right – and we need to know if we can do things better.

NMH welcomes your feedback to help us understand patient experiences and improve the way we work. Any feedback you give is confidential and will not affect your treatment.

Our Facebook pages and social media communities are not a formal complaints channel however. Please use the online form, or phone numbers listed on our webpage.

Disclaimer

NMH may post links to third-party site on its social media pages. NMH is not responsible for the content on those sites.

Useful links

How to block or hide ads (sponsored posts) showing on your Facebook account

facebook.com/communitystandards

Harmful Digital Communications and Your Rights