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Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust

Empowering Patients and Staff with a High-Performance, Accessible WordPress Platform

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Background

Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust provides hospital and community services to around 260,000 people across the Walsall area. As a key healthcare provider within the Black Country Integrated Care System, the Trust delivers a broad range of services, from emergency care and outpatient clinics to district nursing and rehabilitation.

With rising expectations around digital access to healthcare information and support, Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust recognised the need to modernise its public-facing website. The existing site was inflexible, difficult to maintain, and not optimised for accessibility or mobile use. The Trust partnered with 6B to deliver a fully bespoke WordPress platform — one that would streamline patient access to information, improve internal publishing workflows, and support long-term digital transformation.

The Need

The previous website was constrained by dated infrastructure and content sprawl. Patients struggled to find key information — such as clinic locations, service hours, or referral pathways — and staff found it difficult to update or reorganise content without developer support. Navigation was inconsistent, accessibility compliance was lacking, and the platform offered limited scope for integration or future development.

Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust needed:

  • A fully WCAG 2.1 AA compliant, mobile-optimised website
  • Intuitive content management tools for non-technical staff
  • Streamlined navigation and content structure aligned to patient needs
  • Secure integration points for external systems such as NHS Jobs and patient portals
  • The ability to scale and evolve with new service areas, campaigns, and microsites

The Solution

6B delivered a custom WordPress solution, built from the ground up using clean, lightweight code and a modular content architecture. Using Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) and custom post types, we created flexible components that gave Trust teams full control over content — from clinical services and visitor information to news, alerts, and campaigns.

The site’s structure was rebuilt following a discovery phase that included user research and stakeholder engagement. We developed a new information architecture and simplified the user journey, enabling patients to find service information in fewer clicks. The platform also includes improved search functionality, real-time alerts, and responsive templates that support all devices and screen sizes.

Accessibility was a core priority throughout. The site was designed and tested to meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards, with semantic HTML, clear contrast ratios, keyboard navigability, and screen reader support built in as standard.

Key integrations include NHS Jobs for recruitment, service directories, and external appointment portals. 6B also supported the secure migration of existing content — restructuring hundreds of pages while maintaining search equity and link continuity. Post-launch, we provided CMS training and documentation to Trust teams to ensure seamless onboarding.

The Impact

Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust now benefits from a scalable, secure, and user-friendly digital platform that reflects its commitment to quality, safety, and accessibility. Patients can now access key information faster, with improved mobile experience and search functionality supporting a wide range of user needs.

Internally, teams can manage and update content independently — reducing reliance on IT support and improving response times for clinical and operational updates. The platform has become a central pillar in the Trust’s wider digital transformation efforts, supporting patient engagement, recruitment, and public transparency.

With a bespoke WordPress solution in place, Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust is well-positioned to continue evolving its digital services, engage more effectively with its community, and support integrated care across the region.

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