NHS 24
This project was done in collaboration with NHS 24, part of NHS Scotland.
The 111 hotline is the main service provided by NHS 24. It gives access to out of hours urgent healthcare advice across all Scotland, and even though this is done via telephone, it provides users with human interaction. In addition, it is in constant multitasking with other hotlines from NHS 24, which puts more pressure in the service.
With all this, if faces constant challenges, being the multitasking one of them, alongside with receiving up to 200 calls per hour, having 80% of the calls not being actually urgent and having to access all these with precision and quality, when the actual interaction with the users is short lived.
So, after the initial research, we engaged with users, non-users and staff of the 111 service, through quick street questionnaires, interviews and reviews in online portals, to obtain information and evidence of their experiences. This led us to be able to construct a user journey and a service blueprint, where we could see the pain points of the service and where the most dissatisfaction comes from.
By the end of the project, we proposed to the NHS 24 a reframing of the 111 service, with the introduction of a Personal Logbook, that shifts the service from a short-term interaction and one time contact to a continuous care service, that want to help people keep track of their health care, appointments, medications, and medical history, allowing people to look back on their registry and repeat treatments without having to call 111 for reoccurring non-urgent conditions.
Also, we proposed a text service as well, backed with AI technology, to keep the waiting time updated to the users, and allow them to engage with conversations in this time, receiving self-help advice and the possibility to use in the future as an alternative to calling the service. These new touchpoints will expand the telehealthcare service to an accompanied and more personalised service that is present at any moment in users lives, in a meaningful communicative experience.
Master in Design Innovation and Service Design
The Glasgow School of Art, with NHS 24. 2018
Project done with Ga Eun Ku, Muchun Liu, Shiying Hui and Xiao Deng.
