Alienation Design

The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice (PPWH) is a charity providing care services to terminally ill patients in Glasgow. It provides specialist palliative care for people with life-limiting illnesses - usually cancer - and support for their families and carers. The charity is reliant on fundraising activities to provide funds to deliver its care services and research programme. In 'competition' with other local and national charities for funding, the PPWH raises funds locally, nationally and internationally by a diverse range of activities. These include local charity shops, a lottery and direct private and organisational donations.

In addition to its fundraising purpose the charity was also intent on using the website to improve its communication and the understanding of its work by the wider community.  A significant amount of work was carried out by the charity to identify the key stakeholder groups and their needs. The groups to be targeted through the website were: Patients, Carers, Healthcare professionals, Staff and volunteers

One of the main issues with their old site was it was viewed as 'professional' looking but lacking in colour, life and joy.

The solution that we provided reflected the friendly holistic approach to care that the hospice provides and the site resonates throughout with the fact that the hospice is a happy place to meet and chat to people in a similar situation.

Along with the ability to update all aspects of the site, the Content Management System (CMS) allows PPWH to take secure online donations from anywhere in the world and people to take part in the Hospice’s lottery which runs every week - results displayed on the site. Shortly after launch (with online marketing still to start), the site collected over £1000 in donations from all over the world.

The site has been a great success in promoting the Hospice and the services it offers to the wider community and its stakeholders. Another benefit has been the online volunteer application which has become extremely useful. In the past potential volunteers would have to wait for the all the relevant information and forms to be posted out. Now after their enquiry, they are simply directed to the online application.