Discovery on health careers websites for Health Education England
Health Education England asked us to run a GDS-aligned discovery on their health careers websites: healthcareers.nhs.uk and stepintothenhs.nhs.uk.
The websites are an important tool in recruiting people into NHS and social care careers. To achieve recruitment targets for 350 different NHS roles, the websites need to inspire people whilst providing them with the content necessary to make informed choices.
The discovery brief tasked us with responding to an action in the interim NHS People Plan to: “Review the Health Careers website to ensure it is an attractive advertisement for a wide range of roles, entry points and benefits of working in the 21st century NHS and enables us to compete with other large national employers.”
We engaged with a range of stakeholders and users through 1-2-1 interviews, usability testing, content prioritisation sessions, moderated card sorts and prototype feedback sessions.
This research approach was supplemented by a thorough content audit, and a review of storytelling and case study content on the sites by our partners at Helpful Digital.
Interestingly, our research generated a significantly large number of user stories compared to similar-sized Lagom discoveries, reflecting the range of different users of health careers websites, and their needs.
The research culminated in a set of tested and iterated concept prototypes, as well as detailed recommendations, and a suggested roadmap for their implementation.
“Their recommendations have not only set out a roadmap for the future development of the website but also our strategic position within HEE and the wider NHS ecosystem.
Darren Aldrich – Strategic and Communications lead for Health Careers, Health Education England
We are expecting some dissent from stakeholders on the change needed so Lagom’s findings will be crucial in bringing them along by how change will actually benefit their NHS workforce supply challenges.
I can highly recommend Lagom Strategy for any Discovery projects.”
