Innovation within the UK National Health Service has the potential to improve and extend millions of lives, drive quality and productivity and support the UK economy. However, the pace and scale of systematic adoption and diffusion remains a challenge, and healthcare research infrastructure is designed to manage the risks associated with clinical trials rather than research leading to digital and service innovation.
Design approaches to innovation in health and wellbeing offer an opportunity to accelerate innovation, embrace interdisciplinarity and embed users in development. In particular, participatory design advocates involving users in the design process to achieve enhanced results in terms of efficiency and usability.
The paper will discuss the challenges of applying novel creative approaches to accelerate participative innovation in health and wellbeing, and offer some strategies for designers and design researchers who are working in this context. Conclusions are drawn about the need to understand how to better link upstream design research to implementation in order to further accelerate the rate at which transformative technology is embedded in health and care practice.