Will Roberts | 15 August 2025

Two individuals are seen from behind, collaborating on a flowchart with sticky notes on a glass board, in a modern office space with hanging lights.

For many healthcare organisations, the decision to rebuild a website is both high-stakes and resource-intensive. When done right, a new platform can transform patient and stakeholder engagement, streamline internal processes, and significantly improve website performance. But when handled poorly, it can lead to blown budgets, delayed timelines, internal friction, and websites that fail to serve their core users.

That’s why a Discovery Phase is essential. By investing time upfront to gather insights, align stakeholders, and clarify technical, functional, and content requirements, healthcare organisations can dramatically reduce the risks associated with large-scale website projects. In this blog, we’ll explore how Discovery Workshops help organisations in the health sector avoid pitfalls, build stakeholder alignment, and set projects up for long-term success. We’ll also share how this approach delivered a smooth, efficient project for one of the UK’s largest care providers, resulting in a launch free from costly surprises or delays.

Why Discovery Matters in Healthcare Web Projects

Building or re-platforming a healthcare organisation’s website is rarely a simple redesign. These projects almost always involve:

Complex user journeys – addressing the needs of patients, carers, clinicians, administrators, and commissioners.

Legacy system integrations – from electronic health records (EHRs) and booking engines to patient portals and intranets.

Stringent accessibility and compliance requirements – such as WCAG 2.2, Care Quality Commission (CQC) ratings, and NHS Digital standards.

Multiple stakeholder groups – each with differing priorities, internal politics, and approval processes.

Without a robust Discovery Phase, these complexities can lead to scope creep, budget overruns, mismatched expectations, and resistance from key departments. Discovery isn’t just a box-ticking exercise; it’s the difference between a website that truly delivers and one that creates headaches for years to come.

A structured Discovery Workshop ensures teams can:

Build a shared vision and vocabulary across departments.
Map technical and content requirements before development begins.
Define what success looks like with measurable outcomes.
Confirm that the project meets sector-wide needs from day one.

What Is a Discovery Workshop?

A Discovery Workshop is a collaborative session, or often a series of sessions, designed to capture everything needed to scope, plan, and de-risk a website project. Far from a theoretical exercise, it brings together marketing, IT, communications, and clinical teams to ensure that no critical requirement is overlooked.

Two men are standing in front of a wall covered in sticky notes, one is pointing and holding a pen, and the other is observing. They are likely discussing or planning something.

Key Outcomes of Discovery

By the end of a Discovery Phase, healthcare organisations typically have:

A detailed scope of work to outline the website requirements
Audience personas and needs clearly documented (User Stories).
User journeys mapped, highlighting pain points and “top tasks” (such as finding urgent care information or completing referral forms).
A clear understanding of system architecture and integrations such as CRM and booking engines.
A content audit and prioritisation framework.
Risk identification and mitigation strategies.
Defined success metrics for launch and beyond.
Agreement on constraints like timelines, budgets, and stakeholder roles.

The result is a project blueprint that informs procurement, design, development, and future updates. With this blueprint, organisations can prevent costly misunderstandings, accelerate decision-making, and keep every department on the same page.

A man stands at a desk with a laptop, microphone, and other equipment in a modern office setting, preparing for an online presentation or broadcast.

How Discovery
Reduces Project Risk

1. Preventing Technical Surprises

Legacy systems and third-party integrations are often the biggest sources of unplanned cost and delay in healthcare web projects. A thorough Discovery Phase identifies these dependencies early, evaluates data protection concerns, and defines the most efficient approach to integrations (such as whether to sync, iframe, or rebuild). This avoids expensive surprises during development.

2. Reducing Internal Resistance

Projects often falter when internal teams feel “done to” rather than engaged. Discovery involves stakeholders from IT, clinical, communications, and leadership teams from the outset, building buy-in. When people contribute to the scope, they’re more likely to champion the project internally and support its success post-launch.

3. Aligning Budget and Expectations

Budget overruns frequently stem from assumptions made without evidence. Discovery allows teams to test ideas, gather real user data, and define a realistic scope before the build starts. This ensures accurate budgeting, fewer change requests, and a smoother delivery.

4. Creating Focused Requirements

Generic goals like “improve UX” don’t give developers or designers enough direction. Discovery translates these into concrete, user-driven requirements. For example, ensuring carers can quickly find care home vacancies, or that patients can access A&E wait times without navigating complex menus.

Common Activities in
Healthcare Discovery Workshops

A tailored Discovery Phase for a healthcare organisation often includes:

Stakeholder interviews with IT, communications, clinical leads, and patient liaison teams.
Patient and family journey mapping to understand priorities, pain points, and accessibility needs.
Technical systems mapping, including EHRs, patient portals, CRMs, and legacy tools.
Content audits and gap analyses, ensuring accuracy, accessibility, and relevance.
Analytics reviews, using tools like GA4 and Hotjar to identify real-world usage patterns.
Wireframe sketching or card-sorting sessions to co-create intuitive navigation.

At WebBox, we deliver these as 1-3 half-day in-person sessions or through a series of shorter virtual workshops, depending on stakeholder availability. This flexibility helps ensure all voices are heard without causing unnecessary disruption to daily operations.

What Makes Healthcare Discovery Different?

Safeguarding and Sensitivities

Healthcare websites must balance clinical accuracy with emotional sensitivity, especially when addressing vulnerable audiences. Discovery ensures that accessibility (meeting WCAG 2.2 AA or higher) and appropriate tone of voice are embedded in every design decision.

Data Protection and Security

Handling personal and sensitive data is non-negotiable. Discovery examines how user data is collected, stored, and processed – particularly via forms, referrals, and patient interactions – to ensure compliance with GDPR and other sector-specific standards.

Booking and Referral Complexity

Healthcare sites frequently rely on third-party systems for booking, referrals, and assessments. Discovery evaluates these tools and helps decide whether to integrate, embed, or rebuild, balancing usability, security, and budget.

Case in Point: Voyage Care

Our recent project for Voyage Care, one of the UK’s largest care providers, shows the power of a well-executed Discovery Phase. Voyage Care supports over 3,500 individuals across residential care, supported living, and community-based services, with multiple user groups – including care professionals, families, and investors – relying on its website.

How Discovery De-Risked the Project

Through in-person, interactive workshops with stakeholders across the organisation, we:

Captured the needs of diverse audiences, including those accessing vital care information and professionals managing referrals.
Developed a detailed sitemap, user journeys, and content migration strategy, all based on real user data and organisational priorities.
Defined technical integrations, including Dynamics CRM, to ensure seamless enquiry management.

This foundation eliminated ambiguity, allowing us to select the right CMS (WordPress), create an accessible design for WCAG 2.2 AA compliance, and deliver on the organisation’s objectives. The project launched on time, within budget, and free from scope creep, thanks to the clarity Discovery provided.

The new website immediately improved engagement metrics and lead conversion rates, and because the Discovery blueprint was so robust, Voyage Care avoided the unexpected fees and delays that often plague large healthcare web projects.

Three people in a meeting room with wooden table, one man smiling and sitting, another person partially visible working on a laptop. Green wall signs in background, door to the right.

Two men are sitting at a table in an office environment. The man on the left is smiling and wearing glasses and a blue shirt. A laptop and notepad are in front of him.

Two people are sitting at desks with computer monitors. One person, smiling, points at something on their screen while the other person, wearing glasses, looks on attentively. An out-of-focus person is in the background.

Website Discovery

At WebBox, our Project Discovery phase is designed specifically to help healthcare organisations avoid these risks. We combine our sector expertise with a tried-and-tested methodology that uncovers every requirement, aligns internal teams, and delivers a comprehensive blueprint for your website project.

Our Discovery packages include:

Workshops and stakeholder interviews to ensure every perspective is captured.
User research and analytics reviews to shape evidence-based priorities.
Technical audits to identify integration needs and potential roadblocks.
A project blueprint (sitemap, personas, user stories, technical diagram, and measurement plan) that becomes your single source of truth.

Whether you’re at the early stages of planning or preparing to commission a new build, this process ensures that your project is delivered on time, on budget, and without the unexpected costs or delays that so often plague large-scale healthcare website projects.

For any health sector organisation preparing to replace its website, skipping Discovery can be a false economy. These workshops aren’t just about planning. They’re about reducing risk, preventing wasted budget, and ensuring the end result meets the needs of every user.

If you’re preparing for an upcoming website project, you can find out more about our Project Discovery service and how it can de-risk your next project. Or apply for a digital audit to see how the existing website could be improved.

Free Digital Audit