Behavioural Research for Patient Portals
OpenScouter runs remote testing sessions with neurodivergent participants on NHS and private patient portals. We capture voice, clicks, and facial expression in parallel, then deliver human-confirmed reports your product team can act on.
Patient portals carry regulatory weight, and behavioural evidence is how you prove the journey works
Patient-facing digital services in the UK sit inside a layered framework. NHS England commissions services against the NHS Digital Service Manual, the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018 apply to NHS and other public sector portals, and the Care Quality Commission inspects providers against well-led and responsive standards. Private providers also handle special category health data under UK GDPR, with the ICO as the supervisory authority. None of these frameworks tell you whether a patient can actually book an appointment, request a repeat prescription, or read a test result without abandoning the task.
Compliance audits and WCAG conformance checks tell you what the page contains. They do not tell you what happens when a patient with dyslexia tries to interpret a blood test result, or when someone with ADHD is halfway through a symptom checker and loses the thread. The gap between a portal that passes audit and a portal that patients actually complete is where appointments get missed and phone lines get overwhelmed.
Behavioural research closes that gap. By watching real neurodivergent patients move through registration, identity verification via NHS login, repeat prescription requests, and results review, you get evidence of where the journey breaks, not assumptions about where it might.
The NHS Digital Service Manual sets out content design principles for patient-facing services, including plain English at a reading age of 9, clear structure, and inclusive content
For patient portals specifically, this anchor matters because the NHS Digital Service Manual is the design reference that NHS England, integrated care boards, and most UK private health providers benchmark their patient-facing content against. Reading age, clear structure, and inclusive content are not abstract ideals on a portal where a patient is interpreting a test result, deciding whether to book a GP appointment, or confirming a medication dose. Behavioural research is how you check whether the principles have actually landed on the page, by watching a neurodivergent patient read a results summary aloud and seeing where comprehension breaks, rather than assuming a Flesch score is enough.
Our approach
Tested on the journeys that matter
We script sessions around the patient portal tasks that drive call volume and DNA rates: registration and NHS login linkage, booking and cancelling appointments, ordering repeat prescriptions, reading test results, and messaging a clinician.
Three behavioural streams, one correlated view
Voice think-aloud, interaction signals such as rage clicks and scroll hesitation, and facial expression processed on-device. The AI pipeline correlates the three streams so a confused expression on a results page is tied to the exact element that caused it.
Neurodivergent panel, human-confirmed reports
Participants with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and low vision surface usability issues that neurotypical testers miss. Every finding is reviewed by a researcher before it reaches you. Our reports are evidence, not clinical or legal opinion.
What you receive
- Task-level findings across portal journeys including NHS login, appointment booking, repeat prescriptions, and results review
- Annotated session clips showing the moment of confusion, abandonment, or rage click, tied to the underlying screen
- A prioritised list of usability issues mapped to call-deflection and DNA-reduction potential
- Cognitive accessibility observations referencing relevant NHS Digital Service Manual content design principles
- A debrief with the product, clinical safety, and accessibility leads to align on what ships next
Frequently asked
- Do you replace our existing accessibility audit?
- No. Cognitive accessibility is one part of a complete accessibility programme. WCAG audits, DAC certification, and clinical safety assessments under DCB0129 and DCB0160 remain separate. We add behavioural evidence on top.
- Can you test portals built on the NHS App or third-party EPR vendors?
- Yes. We test the patient-facing journey regardless of whether it is delivered through the NHS App, a GP system supplier portal such as those connected via GP Connect, or a private provider portal.
- How do you handle patient data during sessions?
- Participants use test accounts or synthetic data wherever possible. Facial expression is processed on-device, so raw video does not leave the participant's machine. We work with your DPO to align on UK GDPR and ICO expectations before fieldwork begins.
- Are your reports a substitute for clinical safety review?
- No. Our reports are usability evidence. Clinical risk management against DCB0129 and DCB0160 remains the responsibility of your clinical safety officer. We surface behavioural findings that may inform their assessment.
- How long does a study take?
- From study brief to human-confirmed report is typically days, not months, depending on panel match and the number of journeys in scope.
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Talk to a behavioural researcher
Tell us about the vertical, the journey, and the evidence you need. We will scope a pilot in days, not weeks.
