Service + UX/UI Designer
Designing a pathway to promote NHS
support services.
Design brief
​To design a supportive pathway for families with neurodiverse children and young people, showcasing help available from the NHS and wider support networks.
Design Screens
The Story
The Product
The product design process commenced with several meetings involving the Head of Children's Services at NHS Islington and a team of clinicians. Together, we collaborated to refine their vision of creating a user-friendly website to promote their support services for neurodiverse children and families.
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The Problem
The problem to solve was that their support services were lost within the Whittington NHS Trust website, making it difficult for users to navigate and find the right section. The NHS team felt that many services were underused and believed that a more modern and user-friendly website could effectively promote services to families of neurodiverse children and young adults.
Communication
A significant amount of time has been dedicated to communication between the stakeholders and the UX team.
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The NHS cannot provide funding for this product, despite its urgent need.
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An explanation of the UX process of research, analysis, design and testing was given to the NHS Team.​
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The UX team helped the stakeholders understand what aspects of web design would work well for the users and the users would be our guide.
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We discussed that we would need to carefully plan the content design making it accessible to users and avoid using jargon and unfamiliar medical terms.
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An explanation about the information architecture of a website and how the NHS team would need to carry out a closed card sorting activity to group their services.
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The NHS team described the demographic of Islington and how it is a multi-cultural community with many residents speaking English as a second language. We spoke in depth about accessibility features within the website and features than would be suitable for users with neurodiversity.
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We discussed who the website would be aimed at and how users would be directed to it.
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We spoke about how the NHS website is currently built and the site's capabilities.
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Research
Competitive Analysis
This was conducted to identify the positive features and the pain points of other NHS websites that support families with neurodiverse children.
The 'Waiting Room' website provided users with clear information about the services offered, utilising icons, concise summaries, and active links to more detailed information. Some websites featured clear menus, accessibility features, and prominent call-to-action buttons. However, NHS websites such as 'Whittington' and 'Northampton' received low user ratings due to confusing menus, lack of accessibility features, small text, poor contrast, unrelated clip art images and overly complex medical terms.
The NHS team referenced the Northampton NHS Foundation's Trust website for ADHD and ASD as a model for their desired design. However, after conducting research, it was highlighted to the NHS team that there were several pain points. These included an overly complex landing page, small text with complex medical terminology, an overwhelming number of options leading to confusion and cognitive overload and a map design unrelated to the services provided; appearing rather random.
Poor Contrast
Poor Typography
In our analysis of the Greater Glasgow and Clyde KIDS site (Kids Independently Developing Skills), we observed several positive aspects, including a clear horizontal menu layout and easily identifiable titles. However, we also identified areas for improvement. The search function did not perform optimally, resulting in usability issues. Additionally, the excessively long scroll on pages made navigation cumbersome, suggesting a need for better page organisation. We also noted the absence of obvious accessibility features, highlighting an opportunity to enhance inclusivity and user experience for individuals with diverse needs.
Accessibility
Analysis showed that the Autistic Society UK website was a prime example of robust accessibility features. 'Recite' accessibility controls offered a comprehensive suite of tools, including a text reader, font size adjustment, colour contrast options, language settings, and more. These features empower users with diverse needs to navigate the website effectively, ensuring inclusivity and usability for all individuals, regardless of their abilities or preferences.
User Surveys
In-person user surveys were conducted at a support group for neurodiverse families to gather insights and opinions regarding the current NHS website, which details services for neurodiverse children. Key questions were asked to understand users' experiences, preferences, and pain points when navigating the website. These surveys aimed to uncover valuable feedback that could inform improvements to the platform, ensuring it better meets the needs of its target audience.
The survey showed that nearly half of the people interviewed had never heard of or utilised the services on offer. They stated that the NHS website was tricky to use and felt that they needed more awareness of how to access services. Most users accessed websites through their phones.
Information Architecture
Through Information Architecture analysis of the Whittington NHS Trust website, we discovered that users needed to navigate through 6 clicks to reach the CAMHS main page and 8 clicks to access a specific support service. We also observed repetitive content, poor navigation and hierarchy, inconsistent page layouts, and an overwhelming global navigation menu.
User Personas and Stories
A user that has previously accessed NHS support services.
A user that has not previously accessed services, speaks English as a second language and limited literacy skills in English
The user stories were based on profiles of people that live in the Islington Community and this will help the UX team focus the design of the product.
More Communication with Stakeholders and More Problems to Solve
After further discussion with the NHS team regarding the organisation of services for the website, we learned about the Thrive framework, a national framework introduced in 2019 for accessing services -
https://implementingthrive.org.
However, this posed more challenges for our UX team. The NHS staff were fixed about grouping services under the four Thrive Headings: Thriving, Getting Advice, Getting Help, Getting More Help, and Getting Risk Support. We expressed concerns that the Thrive headings might confuse users and requested clear explanations of the headings from the NHS staff.
Design
The NHS team were presented with the opportunity to use the London Waiting Room website as a platform for the design. This was a significant development for the project, as it provided greater flexibility in the design decisions, such as prioritising simplicity and accessibility for users within the community.
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Funding has been secured to develop this product and integrate it into their website.
Prototype Design Screens, Components and Iterations
Next . . .
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Testing with users and further iteration