User-centred design and pervasive health: A position statement from the User-Centred Healthcare Design project

The National Health Service in the UK, like many other public health services worldwide, is facing a number of key challenges. Among them are an ageing population and a rising incidence of chronic health conditions. In this position paper we describe the User-Centred Healthcare Design (UCHD) project, a 5-year collaboration between universities and health Service Trusts in South Yorkshire, UK. We suggest that new models of healthcare that re-define the institutional and social context of care are required if we are to meet the challenge of chronic illness. We argue that user-centred design is a timely and necessary way of bringing about not only service improvement but also innovation and strategic change to healthcare provision in the UK. We describe our progress to date on the UCHD project, our commitment to placing patient experience at the centre of design, and our initial experiences of using an experience-based co-design method to improve outpatient services in a Sheffield hospital.