Abstract

An ageing population is demanding more of healthcare services worldwide, particularly for long-term conditions. In the UK, the challenge of limited healthcare service resources and the influence of the Equality Act for services increasingly requires consideration of people’s access to community rehabilitation services. This presents a potential opportunity for Inclusive Design. To date, Inclusive Design and its associated tools have been widely applied to consumer products and services, but there is little evidence of their application to healthcare services.

This research provides a fresh look at the application of Inclusive Design to healthcare delivery services, i.e., community-based rehabilitation. It demonstrates that Inclusive Design can be used in improving people’s access to healthcare services and the tools applied can make a useful contribution to understanding service provision and hence service improvement. This study has focused on identifying the demands that healthcare services make of their users, with particular reference to the capability of users to respond to those demands within the context in which the care is provided.