Design Council
A recent BBC poll showed that Healthcare Associated Infections (HCAIs) were the public’s biggest NHS concern, ahead even of waiting list length and quality of care.
HCAIs are infections acquired from hospitals and healthcare centres. Infections like the two most high profile, MRSA (Meticillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) and C.difficile (Clostridium Difficile).
Items like telephones, pens, bathroom fittings, keyboards, television sets, manual handling equipment, children’s toys, uniforms, the bed making process, over-bed tables, door handles and bed or side rails can all harbour infections.
This doesn't mean HCAIs can't be stopped. The government's Health Protection Agency said in September 2008 that cases of MRSA had halved between 2004 and 2008 and that initiatives like deep-cleaning of wards and a recent bare-below-the-elbows policy have been making a significant impact.
To develop better products to tackle HCAIs, the NHS Purchasing And Supply Agency (PASA), the Department of Health (DoH), the NHS itself and its suppliers have all come together to form the HCAI technology programme. The initiative brings together the nation’s designers, scientists and healthcare experts to develop design-led innovations, creating working prototypes of ward-based equipment, furnishings, appliances, systems and communications initiatives which have been specifically designed to help improve HCAI figures.
The Design Council is co-ordinating a £25,000 challange to the UK’s design and manufacturing community. The money is there to help design and prototype new furniture, equipment or services for hospital wards that help reduce HCAIs. The Design Bugs Out challenge was launched on 2 September 2008 when the Chairman of the judging panel, Richard Seymour, revealed what he and his fellow judges will be looking for.
Dementia currently affects 750,000 people in the UK and an expected 1.8m by 2050 - the majority of these cases will be Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer 100 investigates the every day problems experienced by Alzheimer’s patients and carers and seeks to design new products and services that tackle these problems.
Communication designers Think Public have teamed up with Alzheimer’s Society branches all over the North East for an innovative pilot that will improve the lives of those with dementia and their carers through design.
Sexual health clinics can be so unwelcoming that people who need to visit them don’t. Health consultancy Design Options worked with Gateshead Primary Care Trust to design ways to make sexual health screening and treatment services easier to access and use. The aim of DaSH (Design and Sexual Health) was to come up with a system where people are seen by the service within 48 hours of contact, and where the treatment path is clear and suits the user’s needs.
Following consultation with over 1200 health professionals and members of the public DaSH has resulted in a design proposal for Gateshead Primary Care Trust’s new sexual health service. This is the first time sexual health service design has been tackled in this way, and it’s hoped the end result will provide a good example of how things can be done to other services both nationally and internationally. You can download the recommendations from DaSH on the Dott 07 website
Lack of activity - and related conditions such as obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and hip problems – has become a major challenge for the NHS. By the time we get older, the effects of these issues are felt more acutely so it is important to try to develop more active lifestyles.
During the five month RED project, a radical new approach to activity emerged: a service that does not offer or prescribe activity, but instead supports groups of people to organise it for themselves. Activmobs is a new way people can stay healthy by organising and motivating themselves to do the activities they like. You can find out more in our case study.
Diabetes is a chronic condition, which, with the right support, can in most cases be managed although not completely cured. The central issue both for sufferers and the health system is to find sustainable (and cost-effective) ways to manage the disease into the long term.
Working closely with a group of diabetes sufferers and health care professionals in Bolton, the design team developed a deck of ‘needs’ cards for patients to communicate their feelings, experiences and needs, and proposed the involvement of an independent adviser to help manage their condition – a diabetes ‘life coach’. You can read more in our case study.
With the support of Bolton Primary Care Trust, the health care professionals involved in the Design Council’s health project have formed a group called BOND (Bolton New Deal) to help drive a new diabetes healthcare agenda for the community, and to undertake a more in-depth pilot of the prototypes developed in the diabetes project. Read more in our update on this story.
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