The Challenge
In April 2010, County Durham & Darlington NHS Trust was
successful in their bid to host the newly established NHS North East Leadership
Academy; the Academy was established primarily to ensure that
leadership staff and managers were able to access the training and
support required to allow an improvement of services to patients
and communities in the region.
As the Academy was to operate as a regional partnership
organisation, the challenge for the new website was to be the
“headquarters”, taking on the primary role in all communications
activities. The Trust also wanted to work with a partner who could
develop a branding for the Academy for use on the site and
elsewhere.
The client was keen to get the site up and running as soon as
possible so we got straight to work.
The Solution
We assessed the client’s requirements carefully and proposed the
Umbraco Content Management System for the back
end system, an open source system with an excellent track record
and wide developer community. Along with core site functionality,
we identified some elements of bespoke development such as Case
Studies of NELA’s candidates and Newsletters to communicate plans
and information to their registered members, as important in
fulfilling the Academy’s vision for the site. Google Analytics was
identified as a key component in assisting the Trust to get the
best from their site post launch.
Our logo design for the Academy combined the themes of
leadership with the regional context to form the basis of a strong,
clean brand for the Academy.
Following a successful and informative project initiation phase
to sign off the functionality and design, we were able to commence
the build quickly, delivering the finished site to the client for
training within 8 weeks of commission. Our customised training
sessions, delivered on-site, provided invaluable support for those
staff designated to maintain and develop the website’s content in
the future, ensuring it can be kept current, engaging and
vibrant.
The Results
The Academy’s site was successfully launched in August 2010.
Within a few months the site was actively supporting 250 programme
members with over 600 individuals subscribed to the newsletter.
Sarah Knowles, Project Co-ordinator for the Academy, said:
"As a new organisation, Connect played a vital role in creating
a brand and online presence for NELA. The service they provided was
first-rate, and they were highly responsive to any queries which
were met with support and advice."