Service innovation
The experience of chronic illness isn’t just about physical sensations and pain in the body: it’s also about the full range of personal experiences, including social interactions and experiences in private. Many people with long-term conditions find that formal health services are only one part of the resources that they use to look after their health and well-being. They typically manage much of their own healthcare. This means monitoring aspects of their illness, timing their drug regimes, adjusting their behaviour to manage their condition, and raising alerts if they notice changes.
People are increasingly using online social networks to share experiences with other people with similar conditions. Here they can exchange information about useful services or products available from the public, private or third sectors. They can also find ideas and practical advice which clinical professionals are unable to give because they don’t share the social and practical experiences of the patient.
On an individual level these networks can help to improve self-esteem and well-being. They can also make a difference collectively – by raising awareness of illnesses and disabilities and of society’s responses to them.
In the UCHD project, we are investigating the possibilities of these networks. We’ll be working with a group of young people who have type 1 diabetes. We want them to imagine alternatives to their current experiences of healthcare and their illness, and then work with us to design new services based on these alternatives.
In this way, people’s lived experiences provide a lens which gives patients, providers and designers a new and clearer view of healthcare services. We hope it will help develop innovative services and systems which are relevant to young people with diabetes.
