Health & Patient Safety Research Lab
A significant finding of the 2002-2003 study into design and patient safety, undertaken by the Royal College of Art, Cambridge and Surrey universities, was that the NHS is well behind other modern organisations in that it has little understanding of design and no strategy for managing and directing it. Progressive companies use design strategically and coherently across all their activities to develop the new products and services that bring business success and to enhance brand values.
A core focus of project work at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design has therefore been on practical exemplars to demonstrate how design can be successfully used to enhance patient safety and improve patient outcomes. Evidence-based medicine is a cornerstone of modern healthcare, and our goal is to develop the methodologies and knowledge base to underpin an equivalent approach to design in healthcare. In meeting this challenge we are working in five broad areas, in collaboration with the NHS, leading research institutions, industry and voluntary sector organisations.
