Service map for GP appointment self-book

Activities

desk researchcompetitor analysisservice mappingdiscovery

eConsult is a popular online consultation platform used by NHS GP surgeries to triage and respond to patient requests. Our CPO and commercial teams wanted to explore how a third-party partnership might help eConsult accelerate the delivery of a high value feature: practice-initiated GP appointment booking. Along the way, we wanted to identify potential gains and pains for our customers (NHS clinicians) and patients. To help us get there, I designed a service map that helped identify several potential obstacles and opportunities before we progressed and released the feature. Result: the competitor and desk research helped us de-risk a complex and sought-after feature and brought clarity to what our next steps should be.

A section of the service map that illustrated how eConsult, Hero Health and a GP’s clinical system (typically EMIS) could work together to allow patients to self-book GP appointments.

Approach: desk research, competitor analysis and service mapping

First, I wanted to understand if and how competitors had solved similar problems — not a straightforward endeavour as details were not publicly accessible, but I was able to gain useful insights from webinars and video reviews from our competitors’ customers. Next, I dove into the technical documentation of our prospective partners and had several conversations with their technical team.

Research findings in hand, I headed over to Miro. I designed a service map that brought together all systems and stakeholders into a single flow and highlighted pains and gains along the way.

Findings: a feasible but complex booking flow

We learned that although delivering an integrated booking flow would be possible, doing so in a “scrappy” and expedited way would require compromising the experience for both clinicians and patients. Clinicians would likely resist the need to onboard yet another tool to enable appointment self-booking; patients meanwhile would either need to register or use their NHS Login to book the appointment, something we knew was a frequent pain point.

This was one of my last small projects at eConsult. Some months after I left I was very glad to hear that the partnership and the integration went ahead and we were able to deliver the feature.