NHS 24 – Designing services with people at the centre
User centred design, or human centred design ensures that services are developed based on the needs of the people who will use them. By involving those who use our services in their design & development, we can understand and design for the challenges people face and the context around them.
NHS 24’s user centred design team is currently comprised of User Researchers and Service Designers. We work across the organisation on various projects including, digital products like NHS inform and our current digital and service transformation programmes. The work of the user centred design team plays a key role in shaping our services to be developed with users, not for them. By talking to our users we can make decisions based on evidenced user needs, not on our assumptions of what users might need. This approach allows us to consider the user experience of interacting with NHS 24 services and widen access, improve accessibility and prevent exclusion.
What can a user centred design team at NHS 24 do to help reduce health inequality?
Whilst a large number of variables influence health inequalities within Scotland, NHS24 is well placed to improve access to health care by providing a service which meets the needs of the whole population. By co-designing with disadvantaged communities, NHS24 can build an understanding of the challenges that specific communities face and what support may be required to help them access the right care at the right time.
As new services are developed within NHS24, it is vital that people from at risk groups are included in the co-production of services to ensure their needs are met. By ensuring that services are designed with communities at risk of experiencing challenges due to health inequalities, NHS24 can design services which are sympathetic to those challenges and ensure that they are not exacerbated.
How do we include people in the design and development of services?
We aim to follow the double diamond design process. Simply put, we take time to discover who our users are, what do they need and expect from NHS 24 and what challenges do they face when accessing our services? To do this we aim for inclusion in our recruitment to allow us to conduct research and test ideas with a broad range of demographics to make sure no one is left out when it comes to the design of health and care services.
By considering the clinical, practical and emotional needs of our users, the user centred design team supports the development of services which work for the people who need to use them.
Hannah Welshman is a User Researcher at NHS 24
Carol McCambley is User Research Manager at NHS 24
