NHS

Client Snapshot

In early 2017, the National Health Service initiated a fundamental restructuring of healthcare delivery across Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire through the formation of a Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). This represented a significant healthcare reorganisation affecting service delivery across urban Bristol, suburban communities, and rural Somerset.

The CCG formation was part of a nationwide NHS strategy to consolidate commissioning power, streamline decision-making, and create more efficient healthcare delivery systems. This particular merger brought together previously independent commissioning bodies, hospital trusts, GP practices, and thousands of healthcare professionals under a unified administrative framework.

Our organisation was selected to develop the digital infrastructure underpinning this complex reorganisation. What began as a dual-purpose platform eventually evolved through multiple phases over a six-year partnership to become a critical communication system during the COVID-19 pandemic and a vital support network during the recovery phase.

What we did

Web Development
Web Design
Mobile Optimisation

How it worked

1M Customers served

The Challenge

The BNSSG (Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire) CCG project presented a series of escalating challenges that evolved throughout our engagement:

Initial Integration Complexity

The merger required consolidating digital assets, documentation, and workflows from hundreds of separate healthcare entities, each with their own legacy systems
Integration needed to respect existing organisational hierarchies while creating new cross-functional communication pathways
Access privileges required careful calibration to ensure sensitive information remained appropriately restricted while promoting necessary transparency

Multi-Stakeholder Management

The platform needed to serve diverse stakeholder groups simultaneously, including clinical leaders, administrative staff, finance teams, and the general public
Each stakeholder group required different interfaces, content types, and functionality within the same system
Content governance needed to balance centralised oversight with distributed publishing rights across numerous departments

Pandemic Response Transformation

When COVID-19 emerged, the platform required immediate repurposing to become the official regional information hub for pandemic updates
Traffic surged dramatically, with the site handling up to 100,000 visitors daily as mentioned in the original document
Content needed to be simultaneously localised for different communities while maintaining central consistency on critical health guidance

Post-Pandemic Support Ecosystem

Following the acute phase of the pandemic, the platform evolved again into a comprehensive support system for healthcare workers
Support resources needed to be mapped across dozens of different employment categories, each with different union agreements and available services
The system needed to intelligently route users to appropriate support based on criteria including role, location, and specific needs

Our Approach

We implemented a phased digital strategy that continuously adapted to the organisation’s expanding requirements:

Unified Digital Foundation

Developed “BNSSG Healthier Together,” a comprehensive website with custom functionality for different document categories and organisational units
Created a sophisticated permissions architecture allowing granular content management rights across hundreds of authorised users
Implemented secure document storage with version control for critical NHS policies, meeting minutes, and strategy documents
Designed dual interfaces: an authenticated internal dashboard for healthcare professionals and a public-facing information portal

Process optimisation & Training

Developed custom workflow tools to streamline document approval processes across complex organisational hierarchies
Created specialised calendar functionality for managing board meetings, public consultations, and staff training events
Conducted numerous training workshops for NHS staff on content management, accessibility compliance, and digital communication
Delivered specialised training on UK accessibility legislation requirements to ensure regulatory compliance

Pandemic Response Platform

Rapidly reengineered the platform to handle the massive traffic increase during COVID-19
Developed a COVID information hub with functionality to serve location-specific guidance to different communities
Created simplified content publishing tools allowing healthcare communicators to rapidly update critical information
Enabled NHS teams throughout the region to post localised updates and information directly to their communities

Healthcare Worker Support System

Built a sophisticated database mapping hundreds of support resources across different healthcare roles and organisations
Developed an intelligent needs assessment tool to guide users to appropriate support resources
Created systems to connect staff directly to available mental health, long COVID, and general wellness services
Integrated with existing NHS support programs and union mechanisms to create a unified support access point

Results & ROI

This six-year partnership delivered transformative value across multiple dimensions:

Pandemic Response Impact

The platform successfully served as the primary information source for regional COVID guidance
Real-time updates helped manage public expectations and provided crucial information during rapidly changing circumstances
The platform’s reliable information helped maintain public trust throughout the crisis

Healthcare Worker Support

Post-pandemic, the support platform connected thousands of healthcare workers with appropriate mental health and wellbeing resources
Self-referral pathways reduced time-to-support for staff in crisis
specialised long COVID support resources were accessed by numerous healthcare workers experiencing post-infection complications

Operational Efficiency

Document standardisation reduced preparation time for board meetings significantly
Centralised information repository eliminated duplication across previously separate systems
Automated compliance checking reduced accessibility violations in published documents
Cross-organisational calendar functionality reduced scheduling conflicts and improved attendance at critical coordination meetings

After six years of successful partnership, as the project scope continued to expand to potentially serve millions more people, we made the strategic decision not to retender for the next phase of development. We felt confident that we had established a strong foundation for the NHS to build upon, having helped the region navigate through the COVID crisis and create effective support systems for healthcare workers in its aftermath.