Roles and skills Digital health care job roles reference
Illustrative Reference profiles for a generic digital health care organization, not official job descriptions. About this reference.

Service designer

Band 6 · Service designer · 421 job evaluation points

UK GDaD PCF level: Service designer

Most often performed at Civil Service grade HEO or SEO.

A service designer is a confident and competent designer who can develop designs based on evidence of user needs and organisational outcomes.

At this role level, you will:

  • be trusted to make good decisions
  • recognise when to ask for further guidance and support
  • contribute to the development of design concepts
  • interpret evidence-based research and incorporate this into your work
Contains public sector information from the UK Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework (https://understand-digital-data-roles-skills.service.gov.uk/), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright.

Responsibilities

Skills

SkillExpected levelWhat this level means
Design communicationUK GDaD PCFWorking (2)

You can:

  • clearly explain problems and design ideas to others
  • clearly explain design decisions to others using appropriate tools and methods
Designing for everyoneUK GDaD PCFWorking (2)

You can:

  • design and deliver inclusive, accessible and environmentally sustainable content or services that meet the needs of all users, working with others
  • ensure your design work meets appropriate standards and guidance, for example accessibility regulations, with support
Designing strategicallyUK GDaD PCFWorking (2)

You can:

  • align your design work to both the goals and vision of your team and the strategic objectives of your organisation
  • identify potential risks and use design to mitigate them
  • identify opportunities and use design to take advantage of them
  • contribute to the development of design patterns and components
Designing togetherUK GDaD PCFWorking (2)

You can:

  • effectively plan and run a design session with your team, users or stakeholders
  • identify and engage the right people throughout the design process
  • give and receive constructive design feedback
Evidence-based designUK GDaD PCFWorking (2)

You can:

  • work with researchers and analysts to draw together, analyse and clearly explain commonly available evidence relevant to users or a service, for example, web analytics data
  • use evidence to inform, develop and test a design idea, with support
Iterative designUK GDaD PCFWorking (2)

You can:

  • apply iterative design principles and techniques and agile methodologies to your work
  • create material to test ideas and hypotheses at an appropriate fidelity, for example mockups or drafts
  • iterate and improve a design based on successive rounds of research
  • use and iterate design patterns and components
Leading designUK GDaD PCFWorking (2)

You can:

  • lead and coordinate design work in your team, with support
  • communicate the value of user-centred design to your team or others in your organisation
  • support other designers
  • work with digital and data leaders in your organisation, when needed
Understanding health and care servicesThis referenceWorking (2)

You can:

  • explain the clinical and care workflows your work supports
  • use common health care terms correctly with clinical and care colleagues
  • recognize when a change could affect patient care and raise it
Equality, diversity, and inclusionThis referenceWorking (2)

You can:

  • recognize and challenge behavior that excludes others
  • consider different needs when you plan your work
Information governance and data protectionThis referenceWorking (2)

You can:

  • apply data protection principles to your work
  • contribute to data protection impact assessments
  • handle information requests and records correctly
Clinical risk managementThis referenceWorking (2)

You can:

  • take part in hazard workshops and contribute to a hazard log
  • follow the clinical risk management process for your work
  • provide evidence for a clinical safety case, such as test results
Designing for clinical safety and human factorsThis referenceWorking (2)

You can:

  • design interfaces that make the safe action the easy action, for example by reducing ambiguous labels and needless alerts
  • test designs in realistic clinical scenarios, including interruptions and time pressure
  • raise design-related hazards with the clinical safety officer and record how designs control them

Typical qualifications and experience

Band 6 outline

Knowledge
Specialist knowledge across a range of procedures, built through further training or experience.
Autonomy
Works independently; interprets policy for own area; seeks advice on complex issues.
Scope
A product, service, or workstream.
Leadership
May lead a small team or mentor colleagues.
Accountability
Outcomes of own workstream and quality of advice given.

Job evaluation (illustrative)

FactorLevelLevel summaryPoints
Communication and relationship skills4Gives complex, sensitive, or contentious information needing persuasion, negotiation, or training skills, or highly complex information.32
Knowledge, training, and experience6Specialist knowledge across the range of the specialism (postgraduate diploma level or equivalent).156
Analytical and judgmental skills4Judgments on complex facts or situations needing analysis, interpretation, and comparison of options.42
Planning and organizational skills3Plans several complex activities, adjusting plans as needed.27
Physical skills3Developed skills needing speed or accuracy, such as advanced keyboard use.27
Responsibility for patient and client care1Helps patients, clients, or relatives during incidental contact.4
Responsibility for policy and service development3Implements policies for own area and proposes changes that affect other areas.21
Responsibility for financial and physical resources1Takes personal care of equipment and resources used in own work.5
Responsibility for people2Supervises or coordinates staff day to day, trains others regularly, or gives basic HR advice.12
Responsibility for information resources4Adapts or designs information systems to others' specifications, or runs information systems for a department as the main duty.24
Responsibility for research and development2Regularly does research, development, trials, or equipment and system testing as part of the job.12
Freedom to act4Results are defined, but the job holder decides how to achieve them, within broad policy.32
Physical effort1Sitting, standing, and walking, with little physical effort.3
Mental effort3Frequent concentration on unpredictable work, or occasional prolonged concentration.12
Emotional effort1Rare exposure, or occasional indirect exposure, to distressing circumstances.5
Working conditions2Occasional unpleasant conditions, frequent travel or outdoor work, or near-continuous screen use on most days.7
Total (Band 6: 396 to 465)421

Self assessment

Rate what you do regularly now, add a short example as evidence, and plan an action for your most important gaps. Your answers are saved in this browser only.

Rated 0 of 12 skills: 0 meet the expected level, 0 below, 0 above.

Design communication Expected: Working
Designing for everyone Expected: Working
Designing strategically Expected: Working
Designing together Expected: Working
Evidence-based design Expected: Working
Iterative design Expected: Working
Leading design Expected: Working
Understanding health and care services Expected: Working
Equality, diversity, and inclusion Expected: Working
Information governance and data protection Expected: Working
Clinical risk management Expected: Working
Designing for clinical safety and human factors Expected: Working
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