DH Background

The DH commissioned PT to independently research their growing base of website users, and put forward the needs and opinions of users to inform decision-making. The audience groups who took part included doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, social care professionals, academics and patients/voluntary care workers as well as key personnel in NHS Management and other health areas.

Planetary Tribe took a holistic approach to the research programme exploring core needs, expectations, ideals, barriers and opportunities. This was balanced with objective assessments of website usage patterns and task-based user observation. PT explored current relationships with the DH in general, paying particular attention to the DH website and the role of new technology. The focus was on how the website is used and ways in which it could be improved in terms of relevance, content and organisation, looking at specific sections such as publications, statistics an surveys, social care, research and development, What s New, about us and the home page designs.

The research also tested the potential relevance of current features (e.g. search engine) and new features proposed for the website such as email alerting. A variety of creative experiments were conducted to explore intuitive ways of organising the diverse content.

Stages of Research Program

Step 1 - Background research  To establish an informed foundation PT conducted internal workshops within the Departmental of Health to coordinate current knowledge and identify working assumptions.

Step 2 - Health website review: PT conducted a review of leading UK and worldwide health and social care websites, government sites and large information based websites. We reviewed structures, designs, features and content.

Step 3 - Website usability best practice: A detailed report on the latest thinking on website design and usability was provided to the DH web team by PT.

Step 4 - Web team workshops: The DH, their web developers and Planetary Tribe finalised a focused research design that met immediate needs and established a foundation for a long-term feedback strategy. The website users would be represented independently by PT to ensure openness and integrity in the process. In the workshop we identified key groups to talk with and what issues we needed to explore.

Step 5  Fieldwork: Planetary Tribe conducted fieldwork, recruiting 18 research groups (approx. 90 minutes each) in the North and South of England. These consultations included survey profiles, in-depth discussion, and website usability labs to explore how people used the site, as well as a range of creative tasks, such as reviewing ways to improve the organisation and signposting on the website.

The range of target audience groups included Nurses, Doctors, Allied Health Professionals, Academics and Researchers, Social Care Professionals, Care Workers and Patients. A wider selection of viewpoints including NHS Management and personnel from other health areas were accounted for through a survey on www.thebigconversation.org.

Step 6 - Extra research features: PT complemented the discussion groups with 20 telephone interviews (approx. 20 minutes) with a range of key decision makers in health and social care. The first wave of survey data (approx.550) from the survey on www.thebigconversation.org was also analysed and incorporated.

Step 7 - Analysis and findings: A two page document is available which reviews the main findings and highlights issues for further consideration.

Step 8 - Presentations, workshops, consultations and report: PT disseminated information across the DH web team and to associated agencies to ensure all key decision makers were aware of issues and suggestions. PT was invited to attend development meetings and comment on ideas.

Step 9 - DH made changes in response to the research findings. These included a more efficient search engine, shortcut links, a redesigned homepage, new pages for About the Dept, Publications and Chief Medical Officer. They plan to redesign the Purchasing pages, Research and Development, Statistics and What's New. An Email This Page facility and email alerting are being developed. There is more emphasis on editorial of the site including the introduction of clearer signposting and greater clarity and consistency throughout.

Step 10 - Development of Service Assessment Tracking  questions that reflected key success criteria and issues for the DH website to deliver on: PT have found this a very useful method for quickly assessing progress and identifying key user needs. The tracking survey was placed on thebigconversation for 6 months. A quick summary of the progress made is available online.