Converging Care Across the NHS
Converging batch messaging and patient lists across NHS care settings — a more product- and design-oriented research challenge. · Accurx · Healthtech · 2024
“We need a way of converging our batch experiences and making it possible to ‘manage’ a cohort of patients that have been contacted”
the problem.
Accurx operated two distinct software ecosystems—one tailored for primary GP practices and another for secondary hospital teams. These platforms featured isolated batch-messaging flows, disparate patient list functionalities, and zero shared data experiences. This operational friction directly contradicted the company's enterprise convergence strategy, causing severe cognitive load for clinicians and stalling cross-organizational adoption.
my role.
I was embedded as the sole User Research Lead within a cross-functional Cohort Management product team. Transitioning from three foundational cycles of generative reporting research, I spearheaded two high-velocity evaluative research cycles to align complex design frameworks with aggressive engineering timelines.
the outcome.
I architected an ecosystem use-case map for patient list management across diverse care settings that had never existed before. This research validated critical product assumptions and directly drove two major design iterations, including a high-impact, systemic patient-safety intervention.
my approach.
I initiated the program by structurally mapping batch-messaging paradigms across both platforms to identify functional convergence and divergence gaps. This analysis surfaced a critical, unnamed systemic reality: you cannot unify patient communication without first mastering patient lists. The list, rather than the message itself, was the core unit of clinician labor and decision-making.
To act on this, I launched original discovery research into primary care list use cases—a territory where no equivalent feature or prior research existed. I successfully mapped six discrete clinical use cases for the first time. The data revealed that most practices were forced to build cohorts externally in legacy clinical systems due to a lack of native tools. I translated these behavioral patterns into explicit, prioritized design requirements for the engineering backlog.
the impact.
This research fundamentally reframed the product team's engineering roadmap, establishing robust patient list data architecture as the prerequisite layer for all future communication features.
The insights directly shaped two product iterations: the submission monitoring interface gained color-coded status badges, real-time action tracking, and strict audit trails; meanwhile, the answers review table introduced immediate highlighting of abnormal clinical telemetry—a direct, verifiable patient-safety improvement.
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