top of page

Role: Project lead

Creating a medication support platform for users with low digital confience

Screenshot 2025-07-04 at 12.42.46.png

The challenge

Half of women over 50 and one in five men in the UK are affected by osteoporosis. Despite proven benefits of medication, only 20% of people are still taking it a year after a fracture. Many struggle due to fear of side effects, limited guidance at diagnosis, and low visibility of treatment benefits - particularly among older adults and those with lower digital literacy.

 

The Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS) wanted to design a scalable, digital medication support programme that could help 15,000+ people a year make informed decisions and stay on treatment.

The approach

The process involed end-to-end service design for a 12-month self-guided digital support programme for people newly prescribed bone-strengthening medication. Our approach included:

 

  • Co-designing with clinical experts and people with lived experience of osteoporosis
     

  • Applying behaviour change theory to guide feature design and content delivery
     

  • Conducting user research focused on inclusion, especially for people in areas of higher deprivation and with low digital literacy
     

  • Structuring the content as the service itself, focusing on clarity, reassurance and confidence building
     

  • Developing and testing a digital prototype that could integrate into the ROS’s wider support offer and NHS referral pathways

The outcome

The resulting service, BoneMed Online, offers personalised guidance, treatment tracking and education over the critical first year of medication. Designed for accessibility and emotional reassurance, it reduces barriers to adherence while complementing ROS’s existing helpline and resources.

The programme has two parts:

  1. An online platform designed to educate, inform, and reassure patients about the medication they’ve been prescribed, addressing common fears and misconceptions.
     

  2. A timed email campaign that delivers supportive, tailored messages at critical points in the patient journey (identified through user research) to reinforce learning and maintain confidence over time.

 

Together, these elements were designed to support sustained behaviour change, rather than offering one-off education. The platform has now officially launched and is part of the Royal Osteoporosis Society’s wider support offer.

Screenshot of the email sent to patients at key timed intervals in their diagnosis and treatment journey

Screenshot 2025-07-04 at 12.48.30.png
Screenshot 2025-07-04 at 12.46.55.png

Emailed summary PDF of the personalised advice given to users

Designing digital support for carers 

bottom of page