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We worked with Dr Jon Otter, Director of Infection Prevention and Control, and his colleagues at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust to help staff develop creative solutions to reduce these bacteria, which account for 65% of infections in hospitals, cause more than 5,000 deaths in NHS patients per year and cost the NHS more than £2 billion per annum. 

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We ran a co-design workshop with staff from across the trust, asking them to share their thoughts on the journey of infections in the hospital, define key ingredients for a successful intervention and develop team ideas for ‘designing away the bugs’.

We also carried out a site visit with the team to understand how catheters and lines are stored, used and managed, identifying places and touchpoints where communications could support better infection control. We then analysed ideas and feedback and provided the team with a comprehensive review of findings and ideas. 

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Following workshops with the trust’s improvement team we developed a range of creative responses which have now been approved by the trust’s infection control team. This included equipment tags, training champion badges, equipment passports, posters and wall graphics. 

The team will be piloting these interventions in specific wards and reviewing impact on infections before rolling out the campaign more widely. 

If you are involved in health challenges in hospitals or in the community and would like to use design to bring your knowledge to life, please do get in touch.