Innovating with the Web to Transform Child Health Resources | 18 February 2016

In 2001 I undertook a two-year contract to modernise the online resources for the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust (GOSH)/Institute of Child Health (ICH). My strategy was inspired and informed by initiatives encountered while working as a health and medical journalist in 1990s Canada - a time where government austerity spurred a need to experiment and try new ways of doing things.

Having seen the impact first-hand of pilot experiments in Toronto aimed at widening access to information and resources for patients and their families, I applied this knowledge to the GOSH Child Health Portal Project (2001 to 2003). Drawing on the wider NHS Modernisation Plan, and a multi-year consultation process undertaken by the hospital, the Project was launched in three phases.

How far the UK had fallen out of step with global developments with the Internet became clear from the start. The distance that had to be traveled in the span of two years was vast. Essentially, to go from being a web laggard to a web leader.

Award-winning (http://www.scribd.com/doc/35249271/Childnet-Awards-2003-Brochure), the GOSH Child Health Portal was called by The Guardian newspaper one of the “three most admired websites in the UK public and voluntary sectors,” and a UK government assessment called the overall GOSH child health web portal a role model for the NHS. At the time, Prime Minister Tony Blair (whose wife, Cherie Blair, was an early supporter and champion of the project) had this to say: “Making sure that your child has helpful, easy-to-read information will make a significant difference to their time in hospital. I am sure that this website will prove very useful for children and their families.”

The project was delivered in three phases. At every stage, progress was communicated to the wider public and colleagues in various ways, via in-house media and through constant engagement with British news outlets. Screen grabs and other resources from the project can be found online here:

Phase 1: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=g826gFjEXWsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=gosh+health+phase+1a&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj5u__dqIHLAhVJOxoKHZ3IDZcQ6AEIJTAA#v=onepage&q=gosh%20health%20phase%201a&f=false

Phase 2: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=E2ZVlFbrCzsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=gosh+health+phase+2a&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjEodr0qIHLAhWK2BoKHStJB7QQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=gosh%20health%20phase%202a&f=false

Phase 3: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=KVE6QqDp1HsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=gosh+health+phase+3&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiXwe-FqYHLAhVBvxoKHXhOCooQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=gosh%20health%20phase%203&f=false

Project documents: https://books.google.ca/books?id=4aeDBgAAQBAJ&dq=gosh+child+health+portal+key+documents&source=gbs_navlinks_s

The Cable and Wireless Childnet Award called Children First “an outstanding example of how a hospital can create quality, authoritative information on issues relating to health in a fun, child-centered and accessible way.”

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Bringing Modern Design to British Healthcare | 7 November 2010

Expertise: Strategy, vision, team leadership, managing suppliers, design vision, digital strategy, content creation, editing, project management, innovation, child health, public health, modernising large institutions. 

Location: London, UK 2001 to 2003

Project Manager: David South

Charity Content Coordinator: Ramita Navai

Click here to view images for this case study: CASE STUDY 5: GOSH/ICH Child Health Portal | 2001 - 2003 Images

From 2001 to 2003, I led a transformational project simultaneously bringing a modern child health web portal and a modern online brand image, to the UK’s top children’s hospital. For younger people, it will be difficult to recall how out of step the UK was with the wider developments in new media and design at the start of the 2000s. My work in Mongolia, an isolated Northeastern Asian nation undergoing the worst post-WWII economic crisis in the 1990s, proved valuable in guiding the GOSH Child Health Portal project. Understanding the value of the internet as a communications tool, and how critical design and strategy were to the successful use of this technology, came about from raw need. The combination of geographical isolation and the urgent desire to communicate with the wider world, meant innovation was the only route to take. I dug out this image from the archive that sums it up nicely: on the left is before the launch, on the right after the launch:

Another key element to the success of the project was communication. It was highly unusual at the time for a health service project to so publicly and transparently communicate its progress and achievements. At every stage and milestone, the project team informed the wider public, the national and international media and colleagues and patients and their families about what was happening and what needed to be done. Below is a typical excerpt from the hospital’s newsletter:

Fast-paced and award-winning, the GOSH Child Health Portal deployed a number of techniques pioneered in my work in Mongolia. It partnered with high-quality content-makers such as the BBC and drew on the talent and expertise embedded in the organisation. It created a cascading cycle of success and achievement. Some of the design from the project is below:

© David South Consulting 2017