Open sarawilcox opened 4 years ago
Initial submissions for Style Council November meeting:
drive-through test site
Use this for coronavirus test sites that people visit in a car, small van or motorbike. Not "drive-thru".
vial
We prefer plain English terms like "plastic tube" or "glass container". If people will see or hear the word "vial", we might add it in brackets, for example: "plastic tube (vial)".
walk-through test site
Use this for coronavirus test sites that people can walk or cycle to.
Has the term "walk-through test site" been tested with people who use wheelchairs or other mobility aids?
I've checked back about one set of user testing I attended. One user was in a wheelchair and, after his comments, we proposed adding wheelchair symbols. He wanted to know if the testing was indoors or outdoors.
We're looking back to see if we have any more info from our accessibility research.
See also this older coronavirus ticket, now closed: https://github.com/nhsuk/nhsuk-service-manual-backlog/issues/228
Following a discussion with our equity and inclusion group, the NHS Test and Trace customer experience team has proposals to replace:
Use of the word "site" doesn't align well with our writing-for-health voice. It feels cold and non-clinical -- and is unfamiliar terminology in a health setting. Of the 3 terms, Google Trends shows that far more people are searching for "covid test centre" (screenshot attached; also the same pattern when people use "coronavirus"). Suggest we start using "test centre" instead of "test site".
The team are concerned that "walk-through" is ableist language, and we should avoid it because it excludes people who use wheelchairs or other mobility aids.
An alternative proposal is to use the following terms:
and one of the following when talking about drive-through centres:
This suggestion is on the basis that anyone can go to a test centre (including by vehicle, which they will have to park). But you cannot drive through it and stay with your car/van/motorbike while you get your test, unless it's one of the drive-through centres. So that's the feature to call out.
Thanks @pellucid-design. For info, @carolinefinucane.
At the November Style Council meeting, we considered the following 2 entries:
Use this for coronavirus test sites that people visit in a car, small van or motorbike. Not "drive-thru".
Use this for coronavirus test sites that people can walk or cycle to.
We talked about "walk-through" and ableist language. We have put out a call to check our coronavirus test accessibility sprint findings to see if they shed light on this.
We also discussed “centre” or “clinic” rather than “site”, which isn't in line with our tone of voice. Users are searching for “coronavirus test centre”. Some people thought “centre” would be better than “clinic”, as testing can take place in warehouses or car parks.
We need to be clear that users cannot use a car or bus to get to a walk-through site. They can only walk or cycle.
There is also a suggestion we might call a walk-through site a “walk-in” or “drop-in” (but people generally need appointments for tests) and a question about how this language fits with general NHS “walk-in clinics”.
This all needs more thought.
In the meantime, we agreed to go ahead with the following entry:
"- vial
We prefer plain English terms like “plastic tube” or “glass container”. If people need to know the word “vial”, we might add it in brackets, for example: “plastic tube (vial)”. "
The meeting notes still need to be approved and signed off by our clinicians and the content team.
This was ranked 1st from the in progress
group at the content backlog prioritisation workshop held on 24-Nov-2020
DHSC/Test and Trace are looking to use "covid" instead.
Search behaviour has shifted from “coronavirus” to “covid” (Google Trends search term data, below) and this matches the language model of diseases and viruses. People search for and talk about diseases not viruses, eg “flu” not “influenza”, “cold” not the viruses that cause the cold.
Data from Google Trends is supported by data from GOV.UK and NHS.UK keyword search analysis. More people search for “covid (keywords)”.
Covid is easier to spell and quicker to type out. We will have printed material in comms and on service packaging.
While it’s clinically accurate, we can drop the “19”. It is not significant in search behaviour or language. This decision has been approved by Clinical Lead [name removed]. (Note: the disease name will be written in full on webpages.)
We don’t want to constrain to “test and trace”, so we can adapt for future developments. Although the organisation name and logo will be on the hub website.
The public do not see our organisational silos. They talk about “government” and “the NHS”. We must consider the real-world user journey for COVID-19 health services that do not fall under our remit, eg vaccines.
"Covid", not "coronavirus"
DHSC/Test and Trace are looking to use "covid" instead.
- Search behaviour has shifted from “coronavirus” to “covid” (Google Trends search term data, below) and this matches the language model of diseases and viruses. People search for and talk about diseases not viruses, eg “flu” not “influenza”, “cold” not the viruses that cause the cold.
- Data from Google Trends is supported by data from GOV.UK and NHS.UK keyword search analysis. More people search for “covid (keywords)”.
- Covid is easier to spell and quicker to type out. We will have printed material in comms and on service packaging.
- While it’s clinically accurate, we can drop the “19”. It is not significant in search behaviour or language. This decision has been approved by Clinical Lead [name removed]. (Note: the disease name will be written in full on webpages.)
- We don’t want to constrain to “test and trace”, so we can adapt for future developments. Although the organisation name and logo will be on the hub website.
- The public do not see our organisational silos. They talk about “government” and “the NHS”. We must consider the real-world user journey for COVID-19 health services that do not fall under our remit, eg vaccines.
On the NHS Digital site "covid" has overtaken "coronavirus" both in internal search and in google search terms that bring users to us.
Thank you for sharing this bit of feedback @JulieCloss
Note: the vaccine team content designers have suggested some changes to our entries on jab and vaccine for January Style Council meeting. They have also proposed that we add to our entry for coronavirus: Add:
"In vaccine content, we use:
To be discussed at the meeting.
NHS.UK Google search terms.xlsx
Stats for search terms driving impressions for NHS.UK coronavirus content attached.
Two tabs - one for all time stats and one for last 3 months.
Thanks @markasrobinson. Based on the top 50 entries, it looks to me as if:
Our internal website search data shows something different. I'm just checking the data.
We've fed back the following to John-Paul Dickie who's co-ordinating work on the GOV.UK coronavirus style guide:
We use "coronavirus vaccination" (for the process or programme) but say "coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine" (for the product or dose) with "COVID-19 vaccine" after first mention.
It would be good to see more user insight in relation to using "jab". From the NHS point of view, when we look at Google searches for our content and compare "jab" and "vaccine", "jab" doesn't feature in the top 50 terms, except where people are searching for the adult "flu jab". People are searching for "vaccine" or "vaccination". The same with our internal site search. We don't see ourselves using "jab" in vaccine content on NHS.UK. The key thing for us is to increase uptake of the vaccine among people who are vaccine hesitant and we've seen some (limited) evidence that "jab" may be seen as aggressive or off-putting.
Our preference is to stick with "vaccine" but we recognise that "jab" may be used elsewhere.
The new GOV.UK coronavirus (COVID-19) A to Z is now live and we link to it from our entry for coronavirus (COVID-19).
If we need to feedback further on the GOV.UK page, the email from John-Paul Dickie and info about updating the GOV.UK style guide is stored with Style Council documents in NHS.UK SharePoint: https://hscic365.sharepoint.com/:f:/r/sites/servicemanual/Shared%20Documents/Content%20style%20council/GOV.UK%20coronavirus%20(COVID-19)%20A%20to%20Z?csf=1&web=1&e=ynwnBu. Please contact the service manual team if you want to see them.
I'm going to put this issue in Done now.
GOV.UK has closed down its coronavirus style guide and has asked us to add some entries to the A to Z of NHS health writing. We're reviewing the terms and will try and bring them to the next Style Council meeting for discussion and approval.
COVID related entries in this Google doc were approved at October Style Council meeting. Still need clinical approval. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Qv7j5G5yFqQeIIqmOCfCjQ0LqskfS0A0Gpa1mY-o9NI/edit?usp=sharing
A considerable drop in searches for the term "coronavirus" over the past 12 months and a spike in the term "covid" suggest style guidance may need updating to reflect the most up to date language used by people wanting to learn more about covid.
I notice that 111 online no longer use "coronavirus". https://111.nhs.uk/guided-entry/covid-information
The 111 online team says they chose COVID partly because of space on mobile, partly because you thought people were familiar enough with COVID-19 to recognise they were in the right place. In testing, when asked what they'd do if they want to book a vaccination or to find out about a COVID pass, people went straight to that option.
We've had a question in the service manual Slack instance about capping up COVID.
We may reconsider the inclusion of "coronavirus" - see above - but will probably keep caps for now.
Approved by clinicians. Preparing to publish.
Moving this back into the backlog while we consider whether or not to move away from "coronavirus".
NICE now refers to COVID-19: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/conditions-and-diseases/respiratory-conditions/covid19
CKS refers to the full Coronavirus - COVID-19: https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/coronavirus-covid-19/
The NHS.UK COVID-19 team says: " "we did a search on analytics and less than 0.1% of all searches were using coronavirus and that was over the whole of last year. The condition is actually COVID-19 (WHO definition), not coronavirus - coronavirus also causes SARS and MARs amongst other conditions and we don't use it there, the public and press refer now to COVID-19... There is also a precedent with flu which we do not call influenza for example."
If we are going to change to COVID-19 on NHS.UK, we think with the new COVID hub launch (est, end Feb, beginning of Mar) is the best time, as we can remove it from all the URLs.
In the meantime, the GOV.UK team is considering whether to move to COVID-19. We are in touch with them.
The NHS website is now using COVID-19: https://www.nhs.uk/covid-19-advice-and-services/
We've seen a change in how people talk about COVID since 2020. The NHS.UK team made a decision to move to “COVID-19” earlier this year, when they launched a new COVID hub. See the presentation slides from the meeting for more detail about the rationale behind this.
GOV.UK agreed in May this year to move to “COVID-19” from “Coronavirus (COVID-19).
Here is the new GOV.UK style guide entry which we agreed to follow.
COVID-19
Upper case.
Do not use:
"Covid-19" with only the first letter capitalised
"covid-19" lower case
"coronavirus" as "COVID-19" is the specific condition
Action: approved highlighted text. Add to style guide - subject to clinical approval.
What
We need a consistent way of talking about coronavirus, in particular testing and tracing.
Update
We now have an entry for coronavirus (COVID-19) in our A to Z, which links out to the coronavirus (COVID-19) A to Z on GOV.UK.
If you want to comment on the page or can share research findings, please use this issue.
Original issue
There are many teams working on coronavirus content. There is coronavirus content on the NHS website and in the coronavirus testing journey (managed by Deloitte for NHS Digital) and teams at DHSC and GOV.UK are also working on similar content.
GOV.UK is doing some work on a coronavirus style guide and we are involved in that and may publish some relevant terms in the NHS content style guide too. But there are also terms that GOV.UK isn't considering.
Deloitte has a glossary, based on the A to Z in the NHS content style guide, and will be submitting some terms for the A to Z.