Design Council RED, a team responsible for developing new solutions through innovative design practice. Helped to carry out the user research & analysis side of the project. The work focused on co-creating solutions for chronic disease management and preventative healthcare. Read more about the project below:

“Working with the Bolton Diabetes Network and Kent County Council over nine months in 2004/5, RED designed and prototyped two new health services. These services are designed to be co-created by people and professionals. They represent a shift in thinking in the way we approach preventative healthcare, and demonstrate how design can be used to put patient centred thinking into practice.

With Kent County Council we worked with people in one of the most deprived wards. We prototyped ‘activmobs’ - a platform that supports people to get active and stay active in a way that fits with their lifestyle, interests and abilities. Groups of friends choose an activity and gain access to support from a personal trainer. It’s an economical way to enable people to be active in a context that is comfortable and social.

In Bolton we worked with the Bolton Diabetes Network to enable people to live well with type 2 diabetes. Here we developed ‘Agenda cards’ - a simple tool that reframes the interaction between patients and professionals. We also prototyped the Me2 coach service - a new and powerful support role, like a life coach but for people with diabetes.

The Agenda cards allow patients to set the agenda for their consultation; getting to the heart of the problem in the first few minutes of a typical diabetes check-up and freeing up valuable consultation time to work on solutions.” Source RED, Design Council.