Embarking on the journey to commission your new NHS website is a significant step for any organisation, and the process requires careful consideration and strategic planning. In this blog post, the seasoned NHS website developer experts at Volute share valuable insights and tips to guide you through the crucial steps of this undertaking.
Where to start
It is important to get some input from people who have experience in commissioning and creating websites, particularly if your organisation has not had a previous website.
Speak to colleagues, other providers as well as a range of suppliers to get their inputs.
Try to determine what your goals are, without getting too prescriptive as to how this will be achieved. This will allow suppliers to provide their expertise on how you might best achieve those goals.
1. Speak with your purchasing team
Make sure that you get their advice about how to commission. Differing budget ranges will have different requirements - there may be thresholds you can work under which means you can have a dialogue with a single supplier, enabling you to speed up the process.
For some organisations, there are different tender requirements for larger contract sums.
Make sure you follow your purchasing team’s advice, as not doing so can lead to problems later on if procedures are not correctly followed.
If you need to tender, then remember to speak with all those on the shortlist before issuing tender documents to get their input.
2. Set your goals
Think about what you want to get out of your website, for example:
- Increased enquiries
- A reduction in support calls/emails
- Increased PPI engagement
- Better access to documentation by staff
- Patients having access to current information at all times
- Appropriate information for each of your varied audiences (patients, staff, stakeholders etc)
Look at some similar organisations around the country and see what they provide on their website and make a note of the features that you like.
3. Features
Decide on your required features. Websites can additionally be used to provide functionality to audiences. For example:
- Document management systems
- Interactive diagrams
- Event booking software
- Searchable database of local support services
- Multi-user blog with advanced admin functionality
- Staff extranet
- Private areas for different groups of staff to access
4. Rebranding
Do you need to create or refresh your branding? If so, this might be the right time to think of this, too.
5. Content creation
New websites often require new content to be created. Do you have the resources to do this in-house or might you want some assistance with this? Written content, images, illustrations, photography and videos are all examples of content you might want assistance in creating.
6. Timescales
For a typical website, we suggest 8-10 weeks from appointment. This gives sufficient time for design, approval and coding.
If it is your first website, then we would suggest adding a couple of weeks on this so it is 10-12 weeks.
For very large sites, or where there is a long approval chain, or a lot of content that needs reviewing and rewriting, we would suggest allowing another couple of weeks. We do not suggest planning for a longer timeframe than 16 weeks as this creates its own issues.
We can help
If you’re looking for any help with commissioning your NHS website, don’t hesitate to get in touch. Volute has a team of experienced NHS web developers who can help. Ring us on 0115 914 5839 or drop us an email