Designing digital health services
We have helped design many different digital health services for all sorts of people: cancer patients, people managing chronic health, health staff, care workers, people with disability, and Australian health consumers with general health needs. The ingredients that make these services well-designed and user friendly are similar, regardless of the service type or the end user.
Patient experience (PX) is the cheeeese
Putting the patient at the centre and co-design, are finally becoming more common practice in health service design. There is a new acronym to show for it: PX (patient experience). We wholeheartedly agree that health services should be designed following human-centred design practices.
However, in our experience in designing health services over the years, we’ve noticed there are specific must-haves, to include in the mix. Here is a list of design considerations that apply specifically to the context of the Australian health system and the realities of health consumers.
Be people centred
1.Co-design with every day Australians
Bring in people with disabilities, people from non-English speaking backgrounds, and people from remote areas during research and design and development. They’re not edge cases, they are your users. Nearly 25% of Australians fall into one or more of these groups. Involve them at the beginning to help define the problem. Get their feedback early on ideas, rough sketches, decision flows. The sooner you test, the sooner you can spot friction, confusion, or unintended barriers. You'll always learn something new when looking at your product from a fresh perspective.
Ask:
How can we involve a cross section of diverse groups of people?
What unique needs must we cater to, for example Indigenous Australians?
How can we create a pool of health consumers to involve throughout the project?
2. Create an accessibility strategy
An accessibility strategy proactively defines how your product or service will be accessible by your specific audience group. It goes beyond just choosing the level of web accessibility guidelines (WCAG) you wish to reach. It helps you really think about the context of the users of your product or service. It includes the what and the how you will deliver accessibility.
Ask
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Will we aim for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) level AA or perhaps level AAA for some things?
3. Help people navigate your service
Most people don’t understand the complex health system. They don’t understand how your organisation works, or what paperwork is required. They don’t know your organisation structure or what departments they are interacting with. They don’t always understand the difference between private and public, particularly when it comes to costs.
Ask:
What are people doing before and after interacting with your service?
Is the software (booking, patient registration) we use accessible?
What design patterns can we use that are familiar for health consumers?
4. Foster health literacy
Up to 95% of health information is too complex for people to understand. Health literacy is about making information understandable, relevant, and actionable for everyone. That includes content, forms, visuals, and even conversations with staff. It also means creating a culture where clear communication is part of every interaction.
Ask:
What are people doing before and after interacting with your service?
Is the software (booking, patient registration) we use accessible?
What design patterns can we use that are familiar for health consumers?
Solve the right problem
1.H3
In health, this is probably the trickiest part to get right. It takes some thoughtful time and analysis. Framing the problem in a way that reflects users’ true needs, not business goals or internal constraints gets you to the actual of the problem that matters . Put simply, don't redesign the menu when the food is bad.
Ask :
What do we know and what are we assuming?
What are symptoms and what are problems?
Do we know where the friction in our consumers journey is?
Consider the whole
1. Consumers are the single patient record
In the absence of a single digital patient record for Australian health consumers, recognise and respect that the health consumer IS the medical health record. They are wrangling, herding and keeping track of reports, summaries and documents stored in many different places often across apps, inboxes, folders, and paper printouts. Make it easy for people to access their records, track their care journey, and avoid repeating themselves.
Ask
How can we make it easy for people to access and store their own records?
What format(s) do people prefer—PDF, email, text message, app?
Can records be shareable with carers, family members, or other providers?
2. Integrate where possible
People are accessing multiple providers and using multiple channels for one or more health events. They might be seeing specialists and using aged care services and the public system all at once. Design your service to be part of a broader health journey, not a standalone touchpoint. Think beyond your service.
Ask
What systems or services do our users interact with before and after us?
Where can we streamline or eliminate repetitive steps (e.g. double data entry)?
Can we integrate data or services to reduce confusion or handoff friction?
Iterate
1. Design inclusively from the start
When accessibility is proactively tackled from the beginning, it means you wont be baking accessibility problems into design and then into code. This is alot more expensive to try to fix in code or beyond. As soon as screens are sketched and words are written, you can check accessibility, by looking for live examples, checking Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) or by testing with people with specific communication needs.
Ask:
Do we have the skills and resources to design and code accessibly?
How can we test with assistive technologies
Who will write accessible content and alt text and captions?
2. Establish a design system
A design system refers to how a team works with a shared set of UI components, from design to development. These components become a reusable and robust set of building blocks that can be used to rapidly prototype and build digital experiences. Consistency creates a simpler experience for health consumers, and builds trust.
Ask:
Are all team members able to prototype and build?
Does the team have a clear workflow for using, growing and maintaining your design system?
What's the process for ensuring component quality, usability and accessibility?
Got gaps in the essentials?
Drop your email below and we’ll be in touch to let you know how we can help.