Media Guardian Innovation Award

06 Apr 2009

A ‘virtual surgery’ and web chat service on Habbo Hotel about the HPV vaccine has won the 2009 Media Guardian Innovation Award.

The service was commissioned by the Department of Health and run by NHS Direct to help prepare young girls for the new cervical cancer vaccine.

HPV web chat

The HPV service was aimed at young girls aged 12-13 to help answer their questions about the vaccine throughout September and October 2008.

A number of agencies and government departments were involved in the project. These included:

  • Mook – a digital creative agency,
  • i-level – a digital media planning and buying agency,
  • Habbo – who built the website, and
  • Central Office of Information (COI) – who coordinated and had strategic input into the digital activity.

Confidential enquiries

We provided two types of confidential, anonymous web chat services as part of the Habbo Hotel service:

  • One-to-one web chat: Girls visiting Habbo Hotel saw promotional materials that directed them to a page about the HPV campaign. This page contained frequently asked questions and offered a web chat with an NHS Direct advisor.
  • One to many web chat: Once a week from 4pm to 6pm, health information advisors (HIAs) were available in one of the ‘rooms’ in Habbo Hotel for a ‘one to many’ chat session – like a group question and answer session. The HIA held eight sessions during the 2 hour slot, each lasting 15 minutes.

Ronnette Lucraft, Commercial Director, said: “NHS Direct leads the way in providing 24 hour health advice and information to everyone in England, every day of the year. And we’re pushing these boundaries even further. By building on our core service we are able to provide a truly multi channel window to the NHS and lead the way for the NHS in ehealth.”

Dedicated helpline

We also provided, at the request of the Department of Health, a dedicated helpline with live advisors from September 2008 until the end of October 2008 – they took a total of 4,089 calls. This service was delivered by our health advisors, as the information requested was factual and little clinical advice was required.

Health Minister Dawn Primarolo said: “We want as many girls as possible in the target age group to benefit from the cervical cancer vaccine. It is one of the biggest public health campaigns in recent history and means that up to 400 girls' lives will be saved each year.
 
“As part of this initiative, it is incredibly important to use innovative channels to give girls all the information they need at their fingertips.”