NHS digital - NHS login
The problem
How do we allow users to access their healthcare online in a safe and secure way
My role in the project
This was my first public sector role as an interaction designer so luckily I was surrounded by some fantastic and experienced designers, researchers and developers. Even though I was the new team members I was able to bring some different ways of working to the project.
Designing with post-it notes
During my time at NHS Digital I had some issues with acquiring prototying software but through this problem I was able to work around it and develop a quicker way of designing a service.
The problems we solved
Through design and research we quickly learned that re-using an existing gov identity platform was not going to work for the NHS so we created NHS login, a healthcare identity verification platform. We looked at leveraging existing GP systems such as SystemOne and Emis for patient verification because we understood that users have a trusting relationship with their local GP.
We created a platform that was reusable across the healthcare system allowing organisations and departments to sign up for an NHS login development access. The platform was also flexible to grow rapidly as we onboarded the NHS App which was use widely during the pandemic.
Confirming that you are who you say you are
Confirming someones identity relies on having some key pieces of information and documentation at hand. For NHS login we need to prove the person is who they say they are right there and then. This is because technology is moving so fast that identities, documents and images can be faked. NHS login uses a variety of imformation to verify someones identity such as their passport, drivers license, NHS record and then a short video selfie to prove they are the person requestion access.
We know that asking users to remember 4 numbers is hard, not to mention taking a video selfie. We looked at different ways to help users by giving them a choice on how they would like to respond to the 4 digits. They could write the numbers down and hold them up or use their fingers to represent the digits.
