NHS IT systems fail due to lack of User-Centred Design?

July 11, 2007 | Posted by stuartchurch | Filed under Usability  

Very interesting report at Contractor UK about Richard Granger, the former Director of IT at the NHS. He is, apparently, “ashamed” of some of the NHS IT systems and quite damning of some their contractors. Of particular note is the comment that one system:

isn’t useable (sic) because they have been building a system with Fujitsu without listening to what the end users want.

I kind of assumed that User-Centred Design would be at the forefront of NHS IT directives (I can’t imagine a situation where understanding the context of use is more important than in the high-pressure, on-the-go, constantly-interrupted environment of the NHS). However, this seems to be far from the truth.

Read the whole report: Granger ‘ashamed’ of NHS IT systems

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I'm Stuart Church, a user experience consultant with Pure Usability in Bristol, UK. Sensorydrive is my personal blog and covers user experience design, information architecture, product design, psychology, research methods, perception and pretty much anything else that takes my fancy! You can find out a bit more about me if you want...