Overview
Role
Principal UX & Product Design Lead
Scope
Clinical Research
UI Design
UX Design
Design System
Information Architecture
Primary Users
Practice Receptionists (Care Navigators), Practice Managers, Duty Doctors, Specialist Nurses, Clinical Administrators
Patient Navigator is an enterprise digital health platform developed by Optum UK. It transforms how primary care GP practices handle incoming patient demand, streamline clinical triage, and optimize multidisciplinary staff capacity at the point of contact
The Opportunity
The Problem: Overwhelmed GP Surgeries and Bottlenecked Bookings
Primary care practices face operational pressure, particularly during peak morning call hours. Receptionists without formal clinical training are required to make rapid triage decisions under high stress:
Scarce GP Slot Exhaustion
Lacking clinical decision-support tools, staff routinely book minor ailments or routine queries into senior GP slots, depleting doctor availability before mid-morning.
Fragmented Call Handling
Receptionists manage patient requests across disconnected desktop tools: scribbling notes manually, guessing clinician suitability, and constantly switching windows.
Underutilized Care Teams
Practices struggle to align patient needs with the full spectrum of available staff skills (such as Advanced Nurse Practitioners, Specialist Nurses, Clinical Pharmacists, and Paramedics), leading to misallocated appointments.
The Strategic Goal
Transform primary care call handling into an intelligent, skill-matched triage workflow: empowering practice staff to capture symptoms accurately, enforce clinical safety guardrails, and direct patients to the right care provider on the first contact.
Designing the Experience
The Patient Navigator platform was architected around three core operational pillars: Smart Intake & Triage Engine, Contextual Patient Workspace, and Practice Administration & Skill-Matrix Engine.
Smart Intake
Conversational symptom entry
Contextual clinical probing & red-flag signposting
Multi-role skill & capacity matching
Duty doctor fast-tracking
Contextual Patient Workspace
Pinned clinical banners and alert tags
1-click action drawer
Practice task hub
Practice Admin & Skill Matrix Engine
Granular roles & Permissions matrix
Clinical tag, synonym & symptom configuration
Hierarchical skill-to-role mapping matrix
bukowSmart Intake & Conversational Triage Engine
Designed for fast-paced, high-volume call handling, the intake flow guides care navigators through structured clinical discovery without increasing call duration:
Conversational Symptom Entry
As staff type patient-reported symptoms, the system dynamically auto-resolves colloquial language into standardized clinical tags (e.g., mapping "fuzzy vision" to Blurred Vision
Guided Clinical Probing
The engine surfaces contextual follow-up questions (e.g., "Are you losing a lot of blood?" or "Are you very worried about this problem?") and associated symptom chips
Red-Flag Escalation & Signposting
If acute symptoms are entered (such as severe Chest Pain), the system displays immediate signposting banners (e.g., "Consider advising patient to call 999") to enforce patient safety
Multi-Role Skill Matching
Based on symptom severity, patient age, gender preferences, and practice slot rules, the engine filters and ranks available appointments across all clinical roles
Duty Doctor Fast-Tracking
Urgent cases can be added directly to the Duty Doctor queue with a single click
Actionable Booking Confirmation
Automatically appends patient reminders to the appointment slot (e.g., "Please advise patient to prepare and bring a urine sample")
Contextual Patient Workspace & Operational Action Hub
Replaced fragmented clinical screens with a unified workspace that surfaces critical background information at a glance:
Pinned Clinical Banners
Displays high-priority alert banners (High Blood Pressure, Type 2 Diabetes, Over 50) and special care requests (e.g., "Patient requests to be seen by a female nurse/doctor")
Quick Action Logging
A slide-out panel allows navigators to log routine telephone interactions (Returning a Call, Appointment Query, Transferring Call) without navigating away from the profile
Integrated Administrative Hub
Centralizes practice administrative tasks, including repeat prescription queries, fit note requests, and test result notification/archiving
Practice Administration & Skill-Matrix Engine
Gives practice managers complete governance over how clinical capacity is configured and deployed across their surgery network
Roles & Permissions Grid
A matrix defining access controls across roles (e.g., Receptionist vs. Administrator) for assigning duty doctors, editing clinical tags, modifying segments, and syncing EHR data.
Clinical Tag & Synonym Configuration
A slide-out authoring suite to create clinical tags, map synonym dictionaries, configure triage flags, set seriousness ratings, and define maximum deferral days
Hierarchical Skill-Matrix
Maps clinical categories (Musculoskeletal, Mental Health, ENT, Respiratory, Red Flag) or specific symptoms (Dizziness, Barking Cough) across 12+ practitioner roles. Practice managers can drag roles into prioritised tiers (Level 1 vs. Level 2) to control which clinician types receive specific appointment requests first
Audit Trail Compliance
Logs every administrative and booking action (including staff member, patient ID, date, and assigned cluster) for practice auditing
Key Design Decisions
Designed for High-Stress Call Environments
Applied high-contrast typography, clear badge colors, keyboard-navigable inputs, and structured lists so receptionists can execute triage while actively speaking with patients
Protecting Clinical Autonomy
Formulated clear visual distinctions between routine nurse appointments, allied health slots, and urgent duty doctor escalations, preventing accidental over-booking of senior doctor time
Modular Component Library
Designed a scalable design system comprising dynamic tag inputs, clinical alert banners, side-drawer logs, and complex data grids for seamless integration into primary care clinical environments
Outcome & Operational Impact
Optimized Skill Allocation
Reduced GP Over-booking Successfully shifted routine care requests to specialist nurses, paramedics, and healthcare assistants, preserving GP capacity for complex cases.
Accelerated Intake
Structured Triage
Standardized call handling with guided clinical probing and automated patient preparation reminders.
Enterprise Governance
Configurable Skill Matrix
Provided primary care networks with a flexible administration suite to customize clinical routing rules, permissions, and duty doctor workflows