Content Design London

Digital transformation for Health Service Executive (HSE)

How a user-centred content strategy helped HSE cut its webpages by 90% and made it easier for patients to find health information

Working with CDL has helped us to clarify the purpose of about.hse.ie. By adopting the user needs based approach, the content strategy that we have created together will benefit the users of the site. It will also help us to quickly triage content requests and support content publishers to create and maintain quality content.

Ulla Devitt, Product Manager, HSE

The challenge

The Health Service Executive (HSE) is Ireland's public health and social care service. It provides hospital, community and social care for everyone living in Ireland.

In 2023, HSE asked Content Design London to work with them on their content strategy for their corporate site.

Their website had grown organically since 2013 to over 30,000 pages. To improve access to information for patients, they needed to:

  • reduce the number of pages,
  • introduce consistent standards,
  • develop guidance on when and what to publish.

The goal

The goal of the project was to:

  • Improve patient experience by taking a user-centred approach, 
  • Increase team efficiency, by creating shared standards and guidance, 
  • Reduce costs by archiving content that was no longer needed. 

What we did

A content strategist and content designer from CDL joined the HSE scrum team. Over a period of 18 months, they collaborated with the HSE content strategist, product owner, user experience designers, developers and a business analyst to co-design a content strategy.

This allowed HSE to establish: 

  • a user needs first approach to all new content,
  • a content proposition that set out what can and can’t be published, 
  • content formats that are easy to use and flexible,
  • taxonomy and information architecture (IA) based on user needs,
  • a collaborative and transparent workflow,
  • governance that set guidelines around publishing new content and maintaining existing content. 

This redesigned process led to better decision-making and team efficiency. It allowed the team to create a user-centred digital experience for patients, as well as stakeholders for health.

What we achieved

In early 2024, HSE launched its new site, about.hse.ie, based on the new content strategy, cutting its webpages by 90%.

With one clear, authoritative page per topic instead of dozens of overlapping ones, patients can find information faster.

The HSE team also increased efficiency and productivity now they have less content to manage and maintain.

Based on the work HSE and CDL did together, all new content is:

  • based on user needs
  • easy to read
  • easier to find, thanks to the site's new information architecture (IA).

The transformation is ongoing. HSE is also changing its content workflow and ways of working to a more collaborative and user-focused model. 

About HSE 

The Health Service Executive (HSE) provides public health and social care services to everyone living in Ireland. HSE's goal is to provide quality care and support to people at all stages of life.

Contact us

For a conversation about your content strategy, email us at hello@contentdesign.london