Scalable, accessible, user-first site for global medical leaders
Client Overview
The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a professional membership organisation and registered charity that supports doctors, their careers, and their development, both professionally and personally. With over 14,500 Fellows and Members in more than 100 countries, RCPE offers world class teaching and training designed to support success in modern medical careers.
Challenge
RCPE initially approached Versantus for help in scoping out a new website. Their existing platform, built on Drupal 7, was no longer fit for purpose. It was technically outdated, difficult to manage, and falling short of the needs of both users and internal teams.
They wanted to explore what a better digital experience could look like, one that would support their growing membership, improve usability and accessibility, and simplify internal workflows. While the brief began as a strategic discovery phase, there was also the potential to continue into full design and development if the partnership proved a good fit.
RCPE's goals were to:
- Improve usability and accessibility across the site
- Make content editing faster and easier for their team
- Consolidating fragmented systems and services into one cohesive streamlined platform
- Migrate from Drupal 7 safely and without disruption before its final days
Although the need to move away from Drupal 7 was the original driver, the project also gave RCPE the chance to improve internal workflows and create a better overall digital experience.
Before the project
RCPE has a long and fascinating history beginning in 1681. Although only a relatively short part of that story, their web presence also had a history and a growing digital footprint, and over time, RCPE’s website had become vast, and difficult to manage. RCPE found itself struggling with the complexity of a confusing site structure, which was delivering poor mobile and accessibility performance to its users. The editorial interface made even basic updates a complex activity, and teams relied heavily on technical support.
Disconnected services across different platforms added to the challenge. Users were struggling to find what they needed, and editors couldn’t work efficiently. The events.rcpe.ac.uk microsite was also part of the same legacy ecosystem, requiring integration and consolidation under a unified platform.
Deliverables
Following a successful discovery phase, Versantus was selected to deliver the full design and build of the new Drupal 10 website.
We were delighted to be working with a fantastic and fully engaged project team on RCPE’s side. Together, we ran agile sprints with daily stand-ups and weekly demos to keep momentum high and communication clear. We tackled integration spikes early on for more complex systems,like Eventbrite and RCPE’s bespoke internal workflows, which set us up well for the substantial task of migrating many years of content and legacy structures.
As we worked through development sprints it was crucial that the new design aligned closely with both RCPE’s ambitions and the needs of their online community. It delivered significantly easier access to membership and payment services, and created a more seamless experience for existing learners using RCPE’s Moodle-based platform.
Event management also became much simpler, with Eventbrite integration supporting easier event promotion, ticket sales and registrations. The front end was rebuilt using a modular, accessible design system, and a custom drag-and-drop page builder gave editors much more flexibility and control, reducing their reliance on technical support.
The new platform launched in November 2024 and delivered:
- A refreshed design that balanced organisational goals with user needs
- Seamless integration with the DOX membership system for single sign-on and data synchronisation
- A smoother learning experience through integration with RCPE’s Moodle-based education platform
- Eventbrite integration to simplify event promotion, ticketing and registration
- A modular, accessible front-end design system
- A custom drag-and-drop page builder, giving editors greater control without the need for technical support
Technical details
The new Content Management System (CMS) experience was tailored to RCPE’s internal editorial team, which fully enabled a flexible page building while still supporting compliance with accessibility standards.
Key features included:
- CMS: Drupal 10
- Hosting: Acquia Drupal Cloud
- Integrations:
- DOX membership system (SSO and data sync)
- Moodle-based education portal
- Eventbrite for event listings and bookings
- Performance: Lighthouse targets of 90+ on key pages
- Accessibility: WCAG 2.1 AA compliance
- SEO: Redirects strategy and support, SEO-friendly restructuring, XML sitemap setup
Designed for internal and external users
The design focused on usability and long-term maintainability. We built a library of reusable components which gave RCPE’s content editors fast and flexible content creation, all integrated with an intuitive page builder interface. We added features that allowed RCPE to replatform and organise content and legacy data whilst preserving valuable SEO equity. And we streamlined workflows for the previously cumbersome events and membership processes. By integrating third-party systems more intelligently, Versantus was able to reduce duplication and give control back to RCPE’s marketing and editorial teams.
Results
The launch in November 2024 brought immediate improvements. After the launch of the website in November, average session duration more than doubled during the first few weeks. Bounce rates dropped by 9%, showing higher engagement. And editorial efficiency improved greatly as content teams now work independently with far less need for technical support.
The strategic planning phase also helped internal teams align around a shared vision, which led to quicker decisions and better collaboration throughout the project.
The new site structure helped simplify user journeys across a complex organisation: it improved accessibility features, such as keyboard navigation, contrast compliance, and semantic markup; and helped meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards and expanded usability for all audiences. And SEO best practices were embedded from the start of the rebuild, and full GA4 tracking support means RCPE have great insights into how their “great new site” is being used.
Thank you!! The website is great isn’t it? Your team has been absolutely fabulous. It’s going well and we’ve had some great feedback
Alex, RCPE
What’s next?
The project delivered much more than a CMS upgrade. RCPE now has a scalable platform that reflects the quality of their work and supports a more modern, user-focused experience, all on a platform that is no longer perilously close to being out of its support lifecycle.
With better tools, smarter integrations and clearer insight into how people use the site, the team is well positioned to explore multilingual content, personalise experiences for different audiences, and continue improving based on real-time data.