Improving patient experience and comprehension of test results in the NHS App.
About the Project
A six-month engagement with the NHS, leading the service design through Pre-Discovery and Discovery phases. The project aimed to enhance patient experience and reduce unnecessary follow-up queries by making test results and clinician feedback more accessible and understandable.
Situation
As the Lead Service Designer for a critical workstream within the NHS App project, I joined the team to run a Pre-Discovery and Discovery phase.
Between December 2023 and June 2024, my focus was on improving the patient experience when reviewing clinician comments on test results in the NHS App.
Task
The primary objective was to address the problem of patients struggling to understand clinician comments on their test results within the NHS app.
This issue led to increased follow-up support requests and time spent seeking clarity from clinicians and other sources.
My role involved leading the design efforts to simplify and improve these comments, ultimately enhancing patient control over their healthcare journey and reducing the workload on clinical staff.
Approach
To tackle this challenge, I engaged healthcare professionals, including medical researchers, GPs, and lab technicians, to understand test result interpretation and communication. This helped identify gaps and opportunities to enhance patient experience and comprehension.
I also designed and facilitated workshops to delve deeper into these insights. By analysing and synthesising the findings, I informed key service design decisions, ensuring our proposed solutions effectively addressed the identified needs.
Results
My handover in June 2024 included key recommendations, which included: improving GP IT system user journeys, developing awareness campaigns for healthcare professionals, conducting further language analysis for clearer communication, and creating standards for patient-facing content.
These initiatives laid a strong foundation for enhancing patient comprehension of test results. The project continues to evolve, building on this groundwork to improve patient control, reduce support requests, and save time for patients and clinical staff.
Due to client confidentiality, I can’t share project assets publicly but can provide access to select visuals upon request.