NSW Health - Northern Sydney Central Coast Health

Summary

The Morpheum and PTG Global consortium partnered with the NorthernSydneyCentralCoastHealth (NSCCH) to develop a Cancer Care website that pushed the boundaries compared to any other cancer related website in Asia-Pacific. We delivered an end-to-end solution from consultation to software and integration that was both usable and accessible.

NSCCH Cancer Website Development project required the development of a best practice, public cancer care online resource portal. The website was to provide information and services covering all aspects of the cancer journey and targeted patients, carers and service providers.

NSCCH developed a consumer-centric cancer care provision strategy, whereby the full range of cancer care information and services are made available to the patient, rather than the patient having to seek out the appropriate services to their situation.

Contract Details

• Date of Engagement: August 2003 to current
• Services Provided: Stakeholder and patient consultation, strategy development, interface Design, information architecture design, functional and technical specification, prototyping, usability and accessibility testing, data syndication
• Products Supplied: Lantern CMS 
• Current Status: Morpheum continues to provide Lantern CMS maintenance and support

Their requirement

The brief was to extend there customer focussed service philosophy to an online environment. Specifically, the project objectives were to create a best practice cancer care website with a community focus that:

• provides a single entry point for the full range of cancer information and services
• enables patients and carers to connect with local services and reliable, context-sensitive (condition-sensitive) information that has been appropriately reviewed for currency
• provides local service providers and associated cancer groups with a forum to promote their services and contribute information.

The initial pilot project was funded by the NSW government, from the former Office of Information Technology (OIT).

The Cancer Care website (www.cancercare.org.au) went live in March 2005 and has received much enthusiasm and support from the community.

Our solution

As this was a new initiative aimed at the design and development of online products, services and support, our solution leverages the unique skills of both PTG Global and Morpheum within a phased implementation approach.

Throughout the consultation and design phase of the project, Morpheum participated in the translation of the solution to an appropriate technology design. With the consortium working collaboratively with stakeholders and the client, we were able to ensure the final implementation effectively delivered business outcomes and an effective technology platform.

This collaborative and phased approach was implemented as follows:

Phase 1 involved extensive competitive review related websites available on the public domain and consultation with NSCCH staff, patients, carers and specialists to determine:

• needs, wants and expectations
• preferred methods of interaction
• staff and specialists information provision.

Phase 2 focused on the user focussed design of services based on a client personalisation capability. The final design specification included facilities such as advanced profile searching, services directory, discussion boards and forums, registration for notification of updated content, personalisation of interface to remember 'my links' and 'my profile', subscription to mailing lists and document cart functionality in the resources library all integrated with one of Asia-Pacifc's leading content management systems, Lantern CMS.

Content syndication from other websites enabled relevant information to be integrated, instead of forcing users to follow links to determine relevance and quality of content.

Phase 3 involved testing a prototype of the system. This phase involved full usability and accessibility testing as well as standard user acceptance testing by the client.

Finalisation of the project was achieved through a collaborative and supported content population.

Focus on Personalisation

The website supports the cancer journey in every aspect across a number of different groups in the northernSydney area. As such, there are four target markets:

1. people with cancer and their carers who want information about all aspects of the cancer journey
2. people who suspect they may have cancer and are seeking diagnostic information
3. the cancer care service provider industry who wish to promote the services they provide, contribute appropriate information to the site as well as direct their clients to the site for further information
4. other cancer care associations and related industries.

The site supports the needs of patients, carers and those who want to find out about cancer in a number of ways:

• profile search functionality - users can search for content by age, gender, cancer type, cancer stage, treatment type whether they are a patient or a carer.
• personalisation functionality - users can register for a 'My Links' section, which enables them to maintain a list of links to commonly accessed pages in the NSCCH site and in other sites, and a 'My Profile' section, which enables them to subscribe to sections or pages from the NSCCH site and be alerted of any updates or changes
• cancer services directory - users can search for local services by suburb, keyword, postcode or area of specialisation
• resource library - enabling users to access all downloads and images from one place. This is also supported by a document cart function which lets users to select files as they go and download in a single zip file.

The user experience is extended by the provision of additional online facilities such as:

• discussion forums
• story and personal experience content contribution
• subscribe to newsletters around specific topics.

The information architecture and site layout ensure a wealth of information is accessible from the home page.  In addition, care has been taken to use clear, concise, plain English and an easy access layout.

The creative design focused on providing a calm but also positive and upbeat experience on the site which is important for the target audience. The creative design across the whole site supports this need.

In relation to usability, Phase 1 research was undertaken to determine target markets needs and the best way to present information and services. During the prototype phase, additional testing was conducted, to ensure high usability of the site. The design, information architecture and layout focus on the delivery of a large volume of content without compromising the user experience.

From a technical perspective, NSCCH can self-manage the site using the Lantern CMS enabling real-time publication of content and ability to change site navigation. If usability issues arise as user feedback is reviewed, NSCCH can immediately respond by updating the site accordingly.

In order to identify any accessibility issues prior to the site build, the Functional Specification was independently reviewed by an accessibility specialist. In addition, the site underwent extensive internal accessibility quality assurance testing to achieve the highest possible conformance.