Digitising information provision and making it accessible to all patients

Often the reason for wanting to realise a new website is a technical one, such as "the current CMS limits us in what we want to offer our target groups." The real, underlying challenge or objective is usually of a different nature. This also applies to the Diakonessenhuis: how can we serve all our different target groups as well as possible? How do we make it digitally accessible? This is a known issue for a healthcare institution. We are well aware of that.

 

The challenges

In recent years we have helped many healthcare institutions with their digital accessibility. Despite the fact that every organisation and every hospital has its own DNA and expertise, what they want to achieve is often similar: serving all target groups, from patients to visitors, from referrers to universities. Don't forget the challenge that almost all healthcare institutions face: attracting staff in a tight labour market. Since September 2019, another challenge has been added: the legal obligation to comply with the Digital Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

Focus on the 'job to be done'

The 'Jobs to be done' framework is a very suitable method for digitisation issues of organisations to determine the focus of the website. Instead of just looking at personas, when analysing the job to be done, you focus on what the target group wants to achieve: what problem does the visitor want solving? You often see overlap in jobs to be done from different personas. This ensures that you do not have to operate all personas individually on a website, but that you can focus on completing the various jobs to be done.

 

Information structure and content

After we had identified the jobs to be done on the target groups of the Diakonessenhuis, we started working on the information structure and the necessary content. Indeed, at a hospital, there is a lot of information to share on the website. The trick is therefore to structure it well and to realise a logical navigation structure and content structure with a good layout of the CMS. This way, visitors to the website can easily find their way to the information they are looking for. Based on our design and the underlying CMS, content partner Presenter started developing and placing the right content in the right place.

 

Strict security requirements

It goes without saying that the security of the digital environment in healthcare institutions is of great importance. In the technical architecture we therefore opt for a headless design of the CMS. To go one step further, we have provided the headless structure of the Diakonessenhuis with an extra 'intermediate layer' between the CMS and the front end. That intermediate layer disables all risky functionality of the CMS, so that it cannot be accessed from the internet. Only data can be sent from the CMS to the intermediate layer. The data present in linked databases is then completely protected. In addition to security benefits, the intermediate layer also provides extra performance: it works faster and can therefore handle more traffic from the website.

Accessible to everyone

Since September 2019, public organisations have a legal obligation to comply with Digital Accessibility Regulations (WCAG). This places demands on design, content and technology and therefore also in the patient folders: folders about disorders and treatment methods that are usually available in PDF format. However, PDF documents are difficult to access for people with disabilities. Together with the Diakonessenhuis, we have digitised all patient folders and converted them to pages within the website. This way the folders are easily accessible for everyone and we avoid duplicate content.

 

 Highlights

•  Headless Drupal CMS
•  Extra security measures and focus on privacy
•  Digital patient folders and secure forms
•  Central management of waiting times with export for the NZa
•  WCAG-proof: digital accessibility
•  Custom illustrations

 

Result with impact

A result to be proud of: a recent study by bureau Stuurlui showed that only 2 of the 84 websites of Dutch hospitals meet the legal requirements for digital accessibility. Guess what: the website of the Diakonessenhuis is one of them! A great result that we have achieved in collaboration with the team of the Diakonessenhuis. Especially beautiful because many people benefit from it.

 

Broad experience in the health sector

At Hoppinger we have a team that specialises in health-related digitisation issues. In addition to the Diakonessenhuis, we work for the Spaarne Gasthuis, the OLVG, UMC Utrecht and for funded organisations such as KWF, Stichting Nieren, Alzheimer Nederland and de Hartstichting. But also for mental healthcare institutions and commercial organisations in cure and care such as Partou Kinderopvang and Movir, the largest disability insurer in the Netherlands. Your health challenge is therefore in good hands with us.

Read more about our experience in the healthcare sector

 

Do you want to make your website digitally accessible?

As of the 23rd September 2020, a barrier-free website is mandatory for all public institutions. Are you ready?