New website for borough’s mental health NHS service

AN NHS organisation which provides mental health services in Halton has launched a new website.

The former 5 Boroughs Partnership NHS Foundation Trust was five years old and was ‘outdated’ with ‘limited functionality’.

It now has a new name – North West Boroughs Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust – and has grown to deliver services across additional areas and moved to a borough-based structure.

Patients and staff were consulted, as were other stakeholders to influence the new website’s development through an online survey.

The site features an easy-to-navigate structure and modern design, a fully searchable service directory broken down by boroughs, a health and wellbeing section providing help and advice for a range of mental and physical conditions, and a series of in-house videos produced to support patients.

North West Boroughs Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust chief executive Simon Barber said: “Our website is the trust’s most important publicfacing communications channel.

“We want to make sure it effectively supports service users, carers, health professionals, staff and public to quickly find accurate information about our trust and services.

“Service users and carers have been central to the development. We listened to their needs and are confident new features like the 360° virtual tours will add value and allow those who need to use our mental health services to get a feel for what to expect before they arrive.

“Cost was also a big consideration as website development can run into tens of thousands of pounds.

“To ensure effective use of limited NHS resources, we opted to spend £3,000 to have the site professionally designed by an external web design company, with the technical build carried out by the trust’s IT supplier, St Helens and Knowsley Health Informatics Service, as part of our existing IT contract – so no additional cost.

“The new site reflects the direction and values of our trust; it is clear, informative and accessible to all. I look forward to seeing it develop further in the future.”

Future development of the site will include additional 360 virtual tours for community services sites, and increased user interactivity to further enable frontline services to make best use of their time and resources.

For more information visit www. nwbh.nhs.uk