Co-design in Healthcare: a comprehensive guide
Co-design has become increasingly popular within the health services sector in recent years. This approach emphasises active collaboration between service providers and users to ensure that the final result is customised to meet the specific needs of its intended audience.
Within health services, co-design has proven to be a valuable tool, fostering innovation and driving improvements in service delivery. By involving patients, their families and healthcare professionals in the design process, services can be shaped to address the real-world challenges and opportunities.
This blog provides an overview of co-design in the healthcare sector, including:
exploring a range of national and state co-design framework examples seeking to promote best practice
examining the initiative of local jurisdictions pushing the boundaries by creating regional co-design guidelines and toolkits
Beacon's perspective on the role of co-design in designing healthcare solutions, drawing on our experience in the field
National and State health sector-specific co-design toolkits
An Australian-wide EBCD co-design toolkit
Released in December 2017, the Experience Based Co-Design (EBCD) Toolkit by the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association remains a primary co-design resource for health services in Australia.
This toolkit combines existing resources from the UK and New Zealand and enhances them with Australian case studies to provide context. It supports Australian health services in adopting the EBCD approach effectively.
The EBCD Toolkit is structured across five stages:
Set up for success: this initial stage places a strong emphasis on planning, ensuring that the groundwork for a successful EBCD project is laid.
Gather the experience: involves collecting insights and experiences from the users.
Understand the experience: this stage focuses on making sense of the gathered information and identifying key touchpoints and areas for improvement.
Improve the experience: here, the aim is to develop solutions, test ideas, adapt strategies, implement changes, and evaluate results.
Monitor and maintain the experience: this ensures that improvements are sustainable and continue to meet users' needs.
For each stage, the toolkit describes the tools used, accompanied by detailed instructions and implementation aids like spreadsheets, agenda planners, and interactive PDFs.
You can access the toolkit here.
How New South Wales approaches co-design in the health sector
New South Wales is at the forefront of promoting a consistent and meaningful approach to co-design across health services. The Co-design Toolkit developed by the Agency for Clinical Innovation (ACI) equips NSW Health services with the necessary information, resources, and tools to implement co-design in service improvements.
The toolkit outlines four steps for a successful co-design project:
Start-up and engage: define the project problem, assemble the team, and prepare for co-design.
Gather: learn from lived experiences to build understanding.
Understand: analyse the gathered information, identify key touchpoints, and pinpoint opportunities for improvement.
Improve: develop solutions, test and learn, adapt, implement, and evaluate.
The toolkit also includes a comprehensive resources section filled with co-design guidelines, templates and practical tools, which can be accessed here.
How Queensland approaches co-design in the health sector
Queensland showcases its co-design efforts through Clinical Excellence Queensland via the Clinical Excellence Showcase. This platform is a hub for clinician-led improvements, spotlighting innovative models and projects across Queensland. It emphasises equal access and provides insights on how these projects were initiated – inclusive of where co-design has been used.
You can explore a variety of design-related projects here.
How Victoria approaches co-design in the health sector
Victoria adopts a whole-of-government approach to co-design, encompassing health services. Within their broader Human-centred Design Playbook, they have integrated a co-design component. This is a valuable resource for those in the health sector looking to deepen their understanding of co-design.
The playbook and the co-design section can be found here and here, respectively. The co-design section guides users on how to bring together citizens and stakeholders to collaboratively design new products, services, and policies.
Local co-design toolkits
Metro North Health (Brisbane, QLD)
Metro North Health in Brisbane, Queensland, has crafted a comprehensive resource titled 'Co-design in Metro North Health, Creating Better Healthcare Together'. This framework was developed by the staff and consumers of Metro North Health collaboratively, aiming to guide users towards enhancing healthcare through co-design.
The framework is a practical tool for a wide range of people, including staff, consumers, community members, researchers, and designers involved in co-design within Metro North Health. While it is primarily tailored for the Metro North Health community, the resource holds valuable insights that health sector staff from other regions in Australia could also utilise.
Key areas covered in the toolkit include:
Understanding co-design
Preparations before starting a co-design project
Forming a co-design team
Considerations for co-design with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
The co-design process
Co-design case studies
For a more detailed exploration, you can access the toolkit here.
Waitematā District Health Board (New Zealand)
Turning our attention to New Zealand, the Waitematā District Health Board has been a front-runner in embracing co-design within healthcare services. In 2010, they introduced Health Service Co-design - Working with Patients to Improve Healthcare Services – Guide and Toolkit.
This resource is designed to assist healthcare professionals in collaborating with patients to comprehend their experiences and implement improvements in healthcare services. It offers a variety of adaptable tools for effectively engaging with patients in service improvement initiatives. While the primary focus is on patients, these tools can also be applied to other groups such as frontline staff, family (whānau), and carers.
The guide underscores the responsibility of healthcare staff to provide high-quality, effective, and safe care, encouraging the use of co-design as a method to assess service performance and to enhance services in ways that genuinely meet patients' needs, with their direct input.
The guide and toolkit are available here.
Commit to great co-design in your health service
In wrapping up this exploration of co-design in the health services sector, it is evident that this approach has become an integral part of creating healthcare solutions that truly meet the needs of patients, families, and healthcare professionals.
Reflecting on co-design's impact
Co-design goes beyond traditional service design by actively involving the end users in the creation process, leading to outcomes more aligned with their needs and expectations. This has been seen across various regions and health services, with numerous examples of successful co-design initiatives that have led to tangible improvements in healthcare delivery.
Learning from diverse applications
From the national and state initiatives in Australia to the localised efforts in Queensland and Victoria, and even the international example from New Zealand, we have glimpsed a variety of co-design applications. Each of these instances provides unique insights and learnings that can be applied more broadly, emphasising the importance of looking beyond our immediate context for inspiration and guidance.
Our expertise and role
At Beacon Strategies, we have closely followed these developments, building our expertise in co-design within the health sector. Our team is well-equipped to guide healthcare organisations through the co-design process, ensuring that they are set up for success and able to leverage the full benefits of this approach.
The future of co-design in healthcare
Looking ahead, the role of co-design in healthcare is only set to grow. As more organisations recognise the value of involving patients and their families in the design process, we anticipate seeing even more innovative and patient-centred solutions emerging. This is a journey we are excited to be a part of, and we are committed to supporting health services in adopting and excelling in co-design.
Engage with us
Whether you are just starting on your co-design journey or looking to enhance your existing efforts, we invite you to reach out to us. Let’s work together to create healthcare services that are truly co-designed, meeting the needs of all stakeholders and resulting in better outcomes for everyone.
Connect with Beacon Strategies and take the first step towards transforming your healthcare services through co-design.
