Kidney Care UK
Building a kidney patient support charity's software to provide a step-by-step guide to claiming Personal Independent Payment (PIP) benefits.
Where it all started
Kidney Care UK is the leading kidney patient support charity in the UK, providing advice, support, and financial assistance to thousands of kidney patients and their families each year. Recognising the need for a dedicated tool to assist kidney patients in claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Kidney Care UK set out to develop a user-friendly web application. This tool, known as the PIP Helper, is designed to offer guided, step-by-step support for kidney patients, their families, and caregivers, helping them navigate the complex PIP application process.
Where we came in
Our primary objective was to build the PIP Helper to amplify Kidney Care UK’s efforts by making their services more scalable through digital. We built the tool by leveraging the existing and proven framework of the Universal Credit Helper, while ensuring it aligned with Kidney Care UK’s branding. The tool needed to be specifically tailored to meet the unique needs of Kidney Care UK, support video content, and remain highly user-friendly for kidney patients, their families, and caregivers.
The project was structured into the following phases:
- Discovery and Design: During this initial phase, we structured the content and developed a clickable prototype.
- User Testing: Through user testing interviews we learnt more about our end users, validated our assumptions and the tool’s usability and effectiveness.
- Development and Deployment: Following the Agile methodology, we developed the tool through iterative sprints, performed quality assurance, and then deployed the final product.
What we delivered
We successfully delivered the essential tools to support individuals applying for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
PIP Helper
The tool we built supports kidney patients wishing to apply for PIP. It provides patients guidance by clearly explaining how the process works, breaking it down into different stages, and then further into steps. Each step will then cover every individual question in the application form, offering concrete guidance on how to best answer it.
As patients move along the application process, they can tick off steps and stages as completed. Their progress is stored on their browser through cookies, so when they come back to the tool, they will know exactly where they left off.
Admin dashboard & custom built CMS
The biggest feature of the admin dashboard is the custom built Content Management System (CMS), that allows admin users to manage the content displayed on the PIP Helper, enabling them to customise the landing page, the various application stages, and all the steps required in the PIP application process.
Next to this, admins can also efficiently manage users and permissions.
Impact
3.5M people in the UK suffer from kidney disease, a highly debilitating condition which is extremely hard to treat and is unfortunately fatal.
For their PIP application, patients need to fill in 56 pages providing all sorts of information, such as their medical history and details about their worst days, explaining what they can and cannot do. This is an extremely difficult process to go through, both practically and emotionally, and despite the patients’ best efforts in providing accurate and precise information, the majority of applications is rejected.
In the first quarter after launch, the tool has been used by approximately 2,000 people, and has reached almost 18k views. One of the users even attributes her successful award with using the helper!
View the tool here: https://piphelper.org.uk/
Get in touch
If you’re interested in us building something similar for you too, then get in touch!
