Over the summer I have been working with health and care professionals in various health boards and trusts building visual maps of a wide range of healthcare ecosystems. These maps show what the an area of health and care look like from a patient perspective, in particular:
– Stages in the patient journey
– Who the patient interacts with
– Where interactions take place
– Connections between health and care pathways experienced by patients
Building the maps is always interesting, the mapping workshops bring health and care professionals together from different parts of the system, allowing them to collaborate and see their system of care as whole (often for the first time).
Once mapped these visual representations support many opportunities for review and improvement. Collaborative review workshops explore:
– What are the aims of the system?
– From a patient perspective, what is working well and what is challenging?
– What is driving change?
– What does flow rate data tell us?
– What improvements have been initiated?
– What challenges remain? – What are possible improvements?
– What would a preferable 2030 ecosystem look like?
It’s fascinating to see the role design approaches and visual mapping play when working in complex systems.