The Challenge
The Challenge facing South West Essex Community Services was
twofold: to create a site that truly meets the needs of the diverse
groups of stakeholders (in particular their informational needs)
and that more fully reflects the vast set of community services on
offer (over 70 services are offered to 420,000 users from a large
number of locations).
The Solution
First and foremost, we set out to maximise stakeholder
engagement in the project from the start; it was important to the
success of the project that all stakeholders’ voices were heard and
embraced.
Hosted by our experienced facilitators, we ran a ‘Website
Objectives’ workshop with representatives of stakeholder groups,
from departmental service managers through to volunteers who assist
in such services as Baby Massage. Focusing on both audience and
content, ideas were presented and findings collated. This process
highlighted key issues for content such as the need for sharing
information across services and representing all services
effectively as well as identifying key information architecture
requirements such as the need to give each service and each
location its own landing page.
We then set about developing ideas on how to achieve stakeholder
objectives from a technical point of view. As an example, a high
priority was to enable users to locate the information they sought
in the quickest and most efficient manner. To do this we created a
multiple search engine which gave the user the ability to search
for the service via either an A-Z function, an auto complete and
suggestion keyword search tool and a general services dedicated
section.
All this allowed the client to enter possible multiple search
terms which would reflect the same service or department (e.g.
paediatric practices and children’s services). Importantly, this
approach would allow multiple stakeholders to use their own
language and create a site wide folksonomy to enable them to get to
the information they required.
The Results
The new site has been very well received, delivering against all
its original objectives. The site has been designed so it is easy
to expand and keep pace with the changing needs of community
services. It uses an open source content management system, making
it easy for the site to be kept up-to-date, an ideal choice for
organisations looking to realise value-for-money.
The site adheres to NHS website guidelines and to WC3 standards
for website accessibility.
About South West Essex Community Services
South West Essex Community Services provide a wide range of
community health services to the 420,000 people of south west
Essex. Their services are provided across Thurrock, Brentwood,
Basildon and surrounding areas, ensuring local people can receive
the care they need close to their homes.