THE HSE COLLABORATED with the UK’s NHS and spent €25,000 on a recent upgrade of its website, TheJournal.ie has learned.
The upgraded site, which went live on 16 May, is a result of a two-year project undertaken as a result of user feedback and research.
According to the agency, the majority of web development is carried out in-house but some external costs were incurred for design and “initial build of new templates”.
The services for those elements were procured in a mini-competition between existing suppliers on a HSE Procurement framework, a spokesperson said.
A new component of the site is the Health A-Z, which was developed by the National Clinical Programmes based on content shared, without cost to the Irish health service, by the NHS in the UK.
A statement from the HSE explains the collaboration:
The HSE and its National Clinical Programmes have worked to adapt the initial information provided by NHS Choices to the Irish context, to our population and to our services. A team of senior Public Health Specialists have edited the information to make it suitable for publication in Ireland, and a wide range of Irish health expert groups have provided their assurance as to its quality. After this broad consultation and information sharing process, a Health A-Z Editorial Board is being established to oversee the development, enhancement and expansion of this resource on an ongoing basis.
The Health A-Z is designed to be easy to read and understand. Content is provided in an easy to read writing style. Currently the content is text only, but following initial publication will be enhanced to include images and video content to improve accessibility further.
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