Oxford Insights
From November 2025 to March 2026, we worked with the MedTech Programme in the Department for Health and Social Care to design a new digital service to help NHS staff buy medical devices based on patient outcomes and system-wide benefits, rather than simply buying the cheapest option.
During a 14-week Alpha phase, we designed a platform that enables NHS users to access real-world evaluative evidence of medtech products submitted by their peers, and contribute their own.
The team passed Alpha assessment, with the panel describing the team as exemplary. Senior policy colleagues praised our ability to turn an idea of Compass into a concrete vision, and a plan for Beta.
The challenge
Initially, the vision was for Compass to only include ‘authoritative’ sources: a collection of ‘top tier’ expert reviews, from sources identified by DHSC. However, we knew little about specific information needs or Trust-to-Trust sharing at the beginning of Alpha.
Through 7 research rounds, we iterated the vision to focus on Trust-to-Trust learning, creating a directory of medtech products showing:
- Who has procured them in the NHS;
- What evidence they shared about them (e.g. trial evaluations, suppliers’ feedback);
- How to contact the right people to hear their experience.
Our approach
As part of a multidisciplinary agile development team, we:
- Conducted user research with a wide range of NHS staff, including users with accessibility needs. We led team-wide analysis sessions to ensure everyone had a shared understanding of user pain points, including policy colleagues.
- Established a robust performance framework linking success to user needs and long-term departmental goals. Defined clear KPIs, metrics, and data sources, and developed engagement paths to ensure the service collects the right data to measure success.
- Designed the supplier-facing service model, establishing appropriate levels of access and agency, and designing a secure authentication flow to meet complex user and departmental security requirements.
- Delivered a comprehensive Beta-phase handover, including a step-by-step guide and evaluation framework to help the policy team identify suitable procurements for the private Beta trial, and a strategy for immediate stakeholder engagement.
Our impact
The service passed the Alpha service assessment, with the team’s work defined as an “exemplar” of user centered service design.
We also raised engagement and awareness about Compass, engaging a variety of DHSC stakeholders through Show and Tells, cross-project meetings, an ad hoc Advisory Board, and several presentations to industry events. This will make sure that the Private Beta can start as early as possible, with industry, users, and key stakeholders ready and excited to take part in the pilots.
Grid photo by JOSE PETRO on Unsplash
