Case study
East Staffordshire PCN
A newly formed Primary Care Network needed a digital presence that explained the network to patients, partners and its own member practices — plus a brand identity that did not yet exist.
The challenge
Where the practice started
The network had eighteen member practices serving around 144,000 patients, no shared visual identity and no single place patients could go to understand what the PCN offered. Practice teams were fielding questions about network services they had no page to point to, and ARRS roles such as social prescribing were largely invisible to patients.
Scope
What the project covered
- Brand identity creation from scratch
- New Primary Care Network website
- Structured service and ARRS role pages
- Ongoing social media management across the network
- Content governance so member practices link consistently
Work completed
- Built the network site around what patients need to do rather than how the PCN is organised internally.
- Created dedicated pages for each network service so practices have a stable URL to link to and share.
- Structured the ARRS team so patients can see what a social prescriber, first contact physiotherapist or pharmacist actually does.
- Designed a complete brand identity — logotype, colour and typography — applied across web, print and social.
- Set up an ongoing social media service so network-wide communications are consistent rather than ad hoc.
Accessibility and patient journeys
Decisions made along the way
- Designed to WCAG 2.2 AA, with heading structure, contrast and keyboard operation checked page by page.
- Plain-English service descriptions written for patients who do not know NHS terminology.
- Mobile-first layouts, because most patients arrive from a phone.
- Consistent contact routes in the same position on every page.
Migration
As a newly formed network there was no legacy site to migrate. Domain, DNS, hosting and SSL were configured by Simpliy, and the site was launched with a complete sitemap and indexable content from day one.
Outcome
Where it landed
- A single network website coordinating 18 member practices and 144,000 patients.
- A consistent brand identity used across the website, social media and print materials.
- Network-wide social media managed as an ongoing service rather than by rota.
- Member practices linking to a stable set of service pages instead of duplicating content.
Related services
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