⟵ Back to case studies

Online GP appointment booking discovery

As a senior service designer on the NHS website (nhs.uk), I was tasked with improving the online GP appointment booking process which was lengthy and complex.

3d render of a mouth in a speech bubble
3d render of a mouth in a speech bubble.
 

SITUATION

A booking service was available on the NHS app, but there was no support or linking to it from the NHS website. Stakeholders believed that an online booking service on the NHS website could reduce demand on front-line services and save money.

TASK

To understand the full end-to-end picture of booking a GP appointment online, find opportunties for the NHS website to support user journeys and problems to solve - improving health outcomes, reducing the demand on frontline staff and saving the NHS money.

ACTION

I conducted stakeholder interviews and ran workshops as well as leading desktop research on academic papers, charity publications, and previous research findings.

Output of a workshop with stakeholders to map out the online service
Output of a workshop with stakeholders to map out the online service

Using blueprint mapping and as-is modelling to map out potential future improvements, and employed hypothesis-driven design and prototyping to probe certain areas through user research.

Prototypes to test the concept of initiating a GP booking online with users
HTML prototypes to test the concept of initiating a GP booking online with users
Prototypes to test the concept of initiating a GP booking online with users
Service blueprints to communicate different scenarios to stakeholders

RESULT

Results of the work showed that there were fundamental blockers in place, including issues with user behaviour, policy, and technology.

I was able to use this evidence to influence stakeholders and secure funding for a focused effort on improving the "Order a repeat prescription" service, which was identified as high demand with no policy or technology blockers. 

This approach saved time, money, and effort, and created a foundation for future work on transactional services. It also helped to break down silos and bring together separate products.

⟵ Back to case studies

CONTACT

Email me, follow me on twitter or lets do business on LinkedIn.