Prospect Hospice launch new website

Prospect Hospice, which provide end-of-life and palliative care to Swindon and north east Wiltshire has worked with Swindon-based VRWALK to add a virtual tour of the hospice in Wroughton to the new website the charity launched in November last year.

The new site, created by Holt-based Boson Web, aims to give the instant information that people are looking for and to encourage the important support that the hospice needs to provide free of charge care to its local community.

Michelle Jones, Digital Media Marketing Specialist at Prospect Hospice said, “In 2018 we had 60,000 people visit our website which is fantastic. But as more people are expecting to get the information that they require from digital channels, websites need to keep up with their needs and expectations. We knew that we needed a new website that was easier to navigate, fully functional across all devices and offer information about Prospect Hospice and our services in different ways..

“A thorough review of the website analytics told us how the old website performed, which is basically telling us how people used it. We then met with team leads as it was essential that we combined hard data with what our services & departments needed, and they are the ones who speak to our audiences day to day so they know what people need.”

“Whether someone is visiting the website for fundraising opportunities, seeking information on how they can volunteer for us, to apply for a job, or for more information & contact details for our main focus, our care services - the website has to have it all. As people are getting more proficient in the use of modern technology, they expect more from websites. They want information & they want it immediately.”

The website built by Boson Web, has predominant Calls-to-action, with a donate button featured on all pages, allowing for a quick and secure donations, on page forms, email links and sign up, apply for or shop buttons. “We have made sure that the design is uplifting with lots of new photography and bright as the hospice is, unlike the often misconceptions of hospices”.

The website is fully mobile compatible and users can now set up accounts where their event registrations and job applications are stored. There is a new Online Shop where the popular Christmas products were sold over the festive season. It now sells fundraising event merchandise. for the locally famous Starlight Walk and Run The Rainbow events.

Michelle said “The website is much more interactive because long gone are the days of endless pages to read. Web pages are now hubs of up to date, information for all our services, where people can dip in and out of getting more information offered by image galleries, news areas, videos, graphics & documents for downloading.”

There's something for everyone on the new Prospect Hospice website, Michelle boasts: “It's uplifting, easy to navigate & kept up to date so there's always something new to come back and see. Make sure you take a look, make sure to give yourself plenty of time as there's lots of great stuff on their about Prospect Hospice & the fantastic work that our teams do!”

The website also has a new virtual tour that allows people to tour the hospice before they visit. Head of Community Engagement, Warren Finney said: “This is a fantastic and relatively new tool that the website offers. People are now able to tour the hospice from the comfort of their own home. There’s a misconception that hospices are dark and scary places. But they’re not.

“Whatever your reason for visiting us, be it a new volunteer, for an interview to work with us, to visit a family member, for a first day therapy session or a career coming in for a complementary therapy - the tour makes you feel at ease because you know where your coming to. It’s likely it’s not what you think. We’re proud of our uplifting and active hospice in Wroughton and this is a great way to show it off”.

Shane Brennan from VRWALK added: “It was a pleasure and uplifting experience to create this virtual tour for Prospect Hospice. I’ve done many tours now for local businesses, as of now it’s mainly been in the tourism and leisure industry, or for house sales. But this has been my favourite and a great idea! The hospice definitely wasn’t what I imagined it to be and this shows people in an interactive way, how nice and welcoming it is here.”

www.prospect-hospice.net