The brief given by NHS Scotland seeks to bridge the gap between the expectations and experience of rehabilitation, set within the context of the Douglas Neurological Rehabilitation Centre of Ayrshire & Arran. Goal: Engage with – Communicate to – Provide for – clients.

Journey of Care is a service design that has communication, ownership and engagement as values. 

The proposal addresses the unmet needs of the research and stakeholders (patient, carer, staff):

• lack of awareness and orientation in concerns to neurological rehabilitation;
• lack of engagement and unpreparedness for patient and carer;
• carers lack accessibility and communication during the entire journey.

Two-part Service

HelloKit & Emotional Board

The DGRC staff will hand the kit to the patient. It contains his portal credentials, which he needs to know, a weekly goal setting tool (short period goals are more achievable) and a roadmap of stages of his rehabilitation. It creates ownership and the empty sections with the question mark will create engagement through the process; those are for customised tools that the staff will add.

The Emotional Board aims to empower the patients by giving them a medium of expression through a physical board instead of the portal; a photo of it can be upload by the staff. Patients’ neurological conditions are many and different, and our statement is to give radical inclusion over the ability and digital literacy. A more comprehensive range of interaction in the service was required.

Digital Platform

The portal is a role-based platform to monitor, store and create information about rehabilitation. Role actions:

• Staff can create and edit patient information, use it as a clinical record, handle queries from the carer and manage referrals.
• The patient can monitor his journey and express himself through an emotional diary section. He can find different ways such as mood composition with colours and sounds, a sketch board, the digital version of the room board, or the possibility to upload files.
• The carer can monitor the patient’s journey in the emotional diary and add queries on staff updates.
• The portal points to facilitate communication between actors, manage expectations, ease the referral process, be accessible everywhere, and give a place for patient emotions.

Impact & Viability

Using the system-wide innovation to map our service, we summarised values created across the system. Considering the person’s needs, our proposed service goes out of the centre. It connects various stakeholders, is inclusive and accessible, covering multiple stages of a customised rehabilitation journey and brings awareness while sharing relevant information. It gives clarity and is sustainable as the kit is made of biodegradable material.