Case Study | Nottingham University Hospitals Website
Overview
Nottingham University Hospitals’ new website puts trust on track to become digital leader
When the story of Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) was showcased by hit BBC2 documentary ‘Hospital’, Trust leaders decided that the nationwide broadcast of the series presented an outstanding opportunity to upgrade, optimise and shine the spotlight on a new website.
Although based in the heart of Nottingham, NUH provides award-winning acute and specialist care to some six million people throughout the East Midlands, and required a fresh, online face which would frame its values, attract potential new employees and serve the needs of patients and staff – wherever they are located.
The Challenge
NUH required a frictionless, mobile-friendly site that would take advantage of
cutting-edge technology, address accessibility requirements, remain easy to use, and – most importantly – place trustworthy information at the fingertips of patients, staff and visitors.
Laura Skaife, Director of Communications and External Relations at NUH, said: “Our previous website had grown beyond manageability in terms of content, was becoming dated, and simply wasn’t built for the mobile digital age.
“We wanted to strip it back to make the most important information – based on feedback from our patients, visitors and staff – the easiest things to find, improving the user journey.”
The modern new site also had to encourage feedback, provide excellent search functionality, and incorporate new technology as trends evolve.
The Solution
Following a competitive procurement process, NUH selected VerseOne to deliver a new content management system (CMS) and design and build the brand new website.
We collaborated with the team at NUH to create a design that targets the Trust's different audience groups – especially job candidates – with the right information at the right part of their journey, putting the Trust's best foot forward in terms of brand and user experience,
It was also really important that design was accessible, catering for web visitors of all abilities, using all kinds of devices.
Getting the right content was also a big priority for the Trust.
“NHS websites have a habit of expanding over time,” said Chris Hughes, Head of Digital Audience, a consultancy that works with healthcare organisations to improve their web presence.
“Working together, the Trust team and I did a full audit of their existing website content and started communicating with internal stakeholders straightaway about what to discard and what to promote. We prioritised content as gold, silver and bronze, according to how well it would fulfil our objectives for the new site.
“We also took a long look at the navigation, making sure that we put together a menu structure for the site that would be clear, predictable, and simple for visitors to use.”
