March 27, 2025
Top tips for website usability
Having an accessible, easily navigable website makes patients more likely to make it their first port of call for finding out information and getting in touch with their practice. As the healthcare system becomes increasingly digital, a usable website is more important than ever. Here are five top tips to make your practice’s website as usable for patients as possible.
Create an intuitive homepage and navigation bar layout
Studies by NHS England show the most important tasks to patients are being able to book, change, or cancel appointments; order repeat prescriptions; register with a practice; get a sick / fit note; get test results; and find out opening times and contact details. It’s therefore wise to have these links in the top third of your home page and in your navigation bar. However, don’t overload either of them – stick to what patients are looking for most often.
Check how your site looks on mobile browsers
The majority of people now access web content on their mobile phones. Check your site is still navigable via a mobile browser – ideally, get colleagues involved to check it on a variety of devices (older, newer, Apple, Android, etc).
Use an accessibility testing tool
The WAVE browser extension is a good starting point for picking up issues that people using screen readers might run into. Install the extension and look over your home page and frequently visited pages. If you see lots of errors, contact your website provider to try and resolve them. However, this doesn’t replace a full accessibility audit, which your website provider should be able to run.
Make sure your written content is readable to a range of patients
Did you know that the average reading age in the UK is approximately nine years old? Making sure the written content on your website is in plain English, free of jargon (including terms like ‘triage’ and ‘online consultation form’) will ensure as many people as possible understand the information, which can reduce unnecessary or confusing contacts. To test how readable your content is, try Hemingway.
NHS England also has some excellent templates for frequently visited pages, such as appointments and prescriptions, which you can adapt for your practice. (In fact, the whole guide is a brilliant resource for anyone looking to improve their practice website!)
Engage with your PPG
Your patients are the most valuable source of feedback – get their thoughts about how easy they find the website to use, and the changes they would like to see.
We hope you find these tips useful. If you’d like help to make your website more usable and accessible, contact Alasdair Wallace who will be happy to help.
Top tips for website usability
