Flexible & scalable: consultations, forms, surveys and more
The challenge
NHS Digital's mission is to transform the NHS and social care services using digital technology. When it came to procuring a consultation platform, they were under significant pressure to get it right. They needed a tool that reflected their ambitions as a digital innovator in public health services and could support a large volume of activity across such a large organisation.
The platform needed to be easily scalable, handle formal consultations alongside less formal engagement activities, integrate seamlessly with their existing website, and support best practice approaches to accountability and transparency. They also needed flexibility to use the platform beyond formal consultation, for staff surveys, stakeholder engagement, event and project feedback.
The approach
NHS Digital chose Citizen Space for its unlimited nature, allowing as many consultations and admin users as needed without restrictions. This made it easily scalable across the organisation.
The platform's customisable brand colours and banner images meant the transition between NHS Digital's website and their consultation hub is seamless, making the journey virtually unnoticeable and much smoother than if the interfaces looked completely different.
NHS Digital adopted best practice habits across their consultation programme:
Clear data protection information: They feature data protection and GDPR information on overview pages, allowing respondents to make informed decisions about whether to participate.
Consistent feedback loops: They use Citizen Space's integrated 'We Asked, You Said, We Did' feature consistently, increasing accountability and demonstrating that people's views have a demonstrable effect on outcomes. The feature allows respondents to easily see how their responses informed decisions.
Transparent timescales: They list how long from the closing date feedback is expected to be provided, creating a publicly accountable deadline whilst keeping respondents in the loop. By being open about processing times, NHS Digital helps respondents feel their time and opinions are valued, avoiding the decreased public trust that can result from months of waiting without explanation.
The results
NHS Digital ran nearly 600 consultations on Citizen Space, covering formal consultations, staff surveys, stakeholder engagement, event and project feedback, and less formal engagement activities with the public.
The platform's flexibility and unlimited nature allowed them to scale their engagement activity across the organisation without compromising on quality, whilst the seamless integration with their website and consistent application of best practices has helped maintain public trust and demonstrate accountability in their work as a digital innovator in public health services.
Delib is a govtech leader specialising in consultation and engagement, trusted by over 600 government organisations worldwide, including major planning projects. Since 2004, we've been building secure, accessible digital platforms to make participation simpler, fairer, and more inclusive. Our flagship product, Citizen Space, was built in collaboration with the UK government and has supported more than 11 million responses across over 110,000 democratic activities.