Taking ergonomics to the bedside – A multi-disciplinary approach to designing safer healthcare

This peer-reviewed paper, published online in Applied Ergonomics (14 October 2013), details the collaborative methodology of Designing Out Medical Error (DOME) project (EPSRC-funded, 2008-11, PI Myerson). Studies have shown that errors occur during the care of around one in ten of all hospital patients (Vincent et al 2001). The Design for Patient Safety report (Buckle et al 2003) revealed shortcomings in the management of design within the NHS. Ulrich et al (2004) have shown that design can improve patient outcomes. These findings stressed the need for a more collaborative approach. The DOME research built multidisciplinary collaboration between designers at RCA and clinicians, psychologists, patient safety experts and process management academics at Imperial College London. The paper details how a specific focus on clinical processes provided an evidence base for design briefs. Co-author West led the pioneering methodology of taking Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) used in high-risk industries and applying it in healthcare to create design briefs. The resulting design interventions were tested on simulation wards at St Mary’s Hospital, London, to validate this approach. The paper describes how the theoretical framework established in the Design for Patient Safety report was put into practice, using a multidisciplinary perspective to influence clinical outcomes. In particular, DOME demonstrated the benefits of a multidisciplinary team operating in tandem throughout the design development process rather than passing the baton from one discipline to the next at different stages of the process. The DOME project was awarded ‘Pro Runner-Up, Strategy & Research’ at the Core 77 International Design Awards, and was the winner in the International Research category at the Design & Health International Academy Awards

The user is not just on the front line: Inclusive design in medtech

Overview of HHCD methods and projects in healthcare (Flomark slides 36-41

Mirrors on the Land: Histories of New Zealand’s Lakes

This article is a revised version of the J. D. Stout Lecture 2019

Shifting Grounds: Deep Histories of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland

Shifting Grounds is a history of three places: Pukekawa / Auckland Domain, Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill and the Ōtuataua Stonefields at Ihumātao. Such tight focus is matched by a simple, elegant structure: each place is explored across just two times, mostly of a few decades – ‘narrative moments’ (p.13), as Lucy Mackintosh calls them. Only one of six substantive chapters, on Ihumātao and the Ōtuataua Stonefields, surveys change over centuries, from c1350-1840

The Other Archive: Archaeology and history in New Zealand. Pākehā Settlements in a Māori World: New Zealand Archaeology 1769-1860.

Pākehā Settlements in a Maori World surveys the historical archaeology of New Zealand from first European “footfall on these shores”, through to the 1860s, by which time Pākehā were numerically dominant. The first book of its kind published in New Zealand, it will remain influential for a long time. Pākehā Settlements is the culmination of a life’s work: published in late 2019, its author died on 3 January 2020

Local government needs fiscal devolution, more power in the hands of councils and communities and respect from the centre

What does the result of the 2015 General Election result mean for local government? Jonathan Carr-West of the LGiU think tank argues that local government should not be forgotten amidst all of the new announcements, and that the sector needs more power of spending and services, and more respect and space from the still-dominant political centre

A road map for pluralistic and ‘asymmetric’ devolution in the UK

Jonathan-Carr-West1 Devolution to a model set out by the centre is not devolution at all, writes Jonathan Carr-West. We need local authorities and groups of local authorities in cities and counties to come forward with detailed and realistic proposals on how they plan to grow their local economies and improve local services and what powers they need to achieve this

Is local government heading for broke? The scale and speed of budget cuts mean that councils do not have the time and space to ensure permanent and sustainable reductions in cost

Jonathan Carr-WestThe scale of budget reductions means that some councils, including some large ones, are bound to fail. The irony is that dealing with immediate budget cuts mean that councils do not have the time and space to invest in or think deeply about the measures that will ensure permanent and sustainable reductions in cost. Jonathan Carr-West writes that local authorities have both the motivation and the capacity to change, but the central government must make it easier for them to do so

Pensions policy: A little more consultation, a little less action please

The Pensions Bill that is working its way through Parliament allows the government the ability to suspend auto-enrolment duties at any time, for any reason. Craig Berry argues that the government must take consultations seriously and that exceptions to auto-enrolment should be based on more specifically defined circumstance

We need fundamental innovation and change in local government

Jonathan Carr-WestThe spending review saw further cuts to local government budgets, which will have left the sector feeling somewhat hard done by. There were nonetheless some positives, such as the integrated health and social care commissioning, but they could have gone much further. Jonathan Carr-West argues that long term changes to our society, economy and environment require us to think radically about what local services look like