We introduced a new look for HealthPathways at the 2018 HealthPathways Conference. The mobile-friendly platform provides a responsive design that works across a range of devices including desktops, tablets, and mobile phones. Since its launch in May 2018, over 20 HealthPathways teams are now using the mobile-friendly platform.

We love the iconic images many HealthPathways teams have chosen to reflect their local environment. Take a look at some of these great examples (login required).

• ACT and Southern NSW Community HealthPathways
• Brisbane North HealthPathways
• Canterbury Community HealthPathways
• Cardiff and Vale Community HealthPathways
• Illawarra Shoalhaven Community HealthPathways
• South Tyneside Community HealthPathways
• Southern Community HealthPathways
• Sydney Community HealthPathways
• Western Sydney HealthPathways
• West Moreton HealthPathways

Valuable input shapes the user experience

We’re extremely grateful to the considerable input we received from several HealthPathways teams during the pre-trial, trial, and early launch phases of the mobile-friendly project.

A special thank you to the early adopters of HealthPathways Canterbury, Hunter New England, Sydney, and South Tyneside, for the significant insight and assistance they provided. The time taken by these teams to test, provide feedback, and suggest improvements on the initial user experience has had a big impact on the seamless result now enjoyed by users on all devices.

Since launching the new platform, we've continued to listen to feedback from the HealthPathways Community, and will keep improving mobile-friendly HealthPathways with feature updates.

We’re progressively adding new features on the site that are not available on the classic platform. For example, there is now a button to copy a pathway to the clipboard without needing to first carefully select the whole page with the mouse.

What do users think?

We recently completed a study with hospital clinicians and general practice teams using the mobile-friendly platform. The results suggest clinicians are very happy with the new interface, and the report also highlighted opportunities for future improvement. 83% of clinicians said they would recommend using the mobile-friendly HealthPathways platform to colleagues.

Comments included:

• “Clear, easy to read, and navigate”
• “Greater flow between pages, better use on mobile devices.”
• “Visually much better. With more white space it looks less cluttered.”
• “Clear headings, good spacing, effective use of drop downs, concise front page (prior to 'expanding all').”
•  “Looks more polished.”
•  “Much easier to read. The fonts are clearer and well-spaced, making it easier to find the information you need within a pathway.”
•  “The homepage and overall look of the new version is really professional.”

The clinicians also confirmed that we needed to improve the search experience on the mobile-friendly platform. We’re now in the early stages of planning a project to achieve this.

If you want to read the full user research report, you’ll find it on your Pathway Development Hub:
Mobile-friendly HealthPathways: What do users think? A study with hospital clinicians and general practice teams.

Benefits for both desktop and mobile users

The mobile-friendly HealthPathways platform enables clinicians to access valuable pathway information at the point of care, whether this from the desktop, or any mobile device.

There’s clear evidence users prefer the new mobile-friendly platform, and we encourage those who haven’t yet made the change to go mobile-friendly. Our hope is that we can have all regions on the new platform by the next HealthPathways Conference in May 2020.

In addition to the benefits offered by the new mobile-friendly features, we believe the new platform will help with clinician engagement, as users have come to expect a mobile-friendly experience.

We’ll continue support for the classic platform for now, because it is a useful fall-back option for people using very old devices. However, any new features will not be made available on the classic site.

For more information see:

• Introducing mobile-friendly HealthPathways and the Mobile-friendly Implementation Pack on your Pathway Development Hub
• Mobile-friendly HealthPathways: What do users think? A study with hospital clinicians and general practice teams.
  (Access from your pathway development hub.)

If you have any questions about this update, please have a chat with your lead writer.