Chronic UTI Australia
Chronic UTI Australia is a patient-led organisation tackling the systemic invisibility of chronic urinary tract infections. They combine firsthand patient insights, educational resources and proactive advocacy. The organisation fights for improved, evidence-based UTI testing and treatment in Australia.
It is the only national patient advocacy organisation dedicated to urinary tract infection (UTI) in Australia. It is a volunteer-run organisation funded through donations.
The Legacy Website Challenge
Chronic UTI Australia’s previous website had old software that was unable to be updated. It was heavily coded with lots of custom css/php files. These files made it impossible for us to read, interpret and understand what was happening with the site. In addition the custom coding over-rode the changes we attempted to make. Originally built in 2017 the website wasn’t exactly elderly, but it was certainly in its golden years.
Many clients that come to us unfortunately find themselves in the same situation as Chronic UTI Australia, where the website has too much legacy software for us to work with.
A New Website
With a new site on the cards, the team at Chronic UTI Australia also decided to modernise the design and take a stocktake of what pages were still required and identify any new pages that needed to be considered.
Highlights of this website, from a development perspective were:
- Design collaboration
- Take Action Advocacy Pages
- Content Migration
Website Design Collaboration – Embracing Texture & Flow
The site was designed by Kelly Ceroni of Kelly Creative Co. She supplied us with .pdf’s for the overall look and feel of the site which we then implemented.
Working closely with the team, we worked with the visual identity of soft curves, flowing shapes, and organic tones—designed to evoke comfort, community, and human connection. These elements flowed through header shapes, buttons, and background panels, lending a sense of gentle movement and inclusivity. This organic aesthetic contrasts sharply with many health websites, intentionally shifting perceptions from clinical distances to patient-centred empathy.
Other websites we’ve developed in collaboration with a professional designer are
Working with a designer is both a challenge and opportunity for us. Our knowledge is usually stretched as we explore new features to meet the design brief and in doing so we learn new things and develop our skillset.
Take Action – Building Functional Advocacy Tools
As a patient centred organisation fighting for improved, evidence-based UTI testing and treatment, Chronic UTI Australia wanted to create easy ways for people to take action. In combination with their strong email marketing campaigns and social media presence, Chronic UTI Australia successfully ran an Open Letter to the Federal Minister campaign. There were 5 actions that were supported by web pages
- Open Letter Sign-Up –a place for people to add their name to an open letter addressed to the Federal Minister for Health.
- Write to your Local Member of Parliament – including writing tips, what to ask of your MP, prompts to let ChatGPT help write the letter and a complete downloadable kit.
- Share Your Story – an invitation via an online contract form, for people with chronic UTI to share their story to help with the ongoing fight to recognise and treat the illness.
- Use Your Social Media – this page provides text that can be copied, suggested hashtags and downloadable graphics.
- Sentenced by UTI Photo Challenge – an invitation for people to share photos that symbolise their experiences with chronic UTI.
The tools on these take action pages empower users to act, amplifying their voices and generate advocacy momentum.
Content Migration
In addition to multiple pages, there were over 60 blog articles. Transferring this amount of content required careful attention to structure, formatting, and links. We needed to ensure
- Page titles, metadata, categories, and images were faithfully retained.
- Internal links—especially to FAQs, factsheets, and Take Action elements—remained functional.
- Every post loaded responsively and reflected the new site’s visual tone and typography.
The post-migration review uncovered a few discrepancies, which we corrected before launch, ensuring a smooth experience for returning readers.
Key Resources & Tools
In addition to the new take action tools, the organisation retained its tools from the previous website, including
- Understanding chronic UTI Booklet – A comprehensive educational resource available to subscribers—cover symptoms, diagnostics, and self-advocacy tools
- Chronic UTI Worksheet – A structured form for documenting symptoms, tracking pain, monitoring treatments, and improving dialogue with healthcare providers
- Fact Sheets & Healthcare Handouts – Clear, downloadable materials such as clinician-targeted flyers and patient-focused factsheets explaining acute vs chronic UTIs, diagnostic challenges, and treatment considerations
- Online Support Links – Directories of support groups, blogs, recovery stories, and global advocacy networks
Wrap Up
The refreshed Chronic UTI Australia website strikes a harmonious balance between warmth and clarity. It’s visually inviting yet authoritative, emotionally resonant and easy to navigate. Take a look at the Chronic UTI Australia website here.
If you would like to make a donation to help their work, visit their donation page.
Andrea Sherwin from Chronic UTI Australia was kind enough to write up her experience of the site’s development.
We worked with Fiona and Richard from DIY Digital to develop a new WordPress website to replace our very large and aging website that was crumbling behind the scenes.
Fiona and Richard were genuine, professional and organised, and they made sure they understood our needs. The project evolved as we went along, and Fiona and Richard addressed all our concerns and accommodated the changes we needed to make.
They are excellent at communicating with clients and continue working with you until the job is complete.
The training modules were easy to follow and equip you to DIY as much as possible.
We highly recommend them and plan to continue working with Fiona and Richard on stage 2 of our digital project.
