Conference article

Evidence indicates that engaging local communities in health service co-creation can contribute to more responsive and efficient services. A variety of approaches have been proposed to involve the various stakeholders along the service life-cycle. While the planning; delivery and monitoring of health services are increasingly characterized by an extensive use of the Internet; little is known about its applicability in their co-design. However; the current health service co-design practice presents major challenges in involving overloaded staff and hard-to-reach patients. This study aims to explore the challenges faced by the health service co-design practice in physical environments and the potential and limitations of online communities for health service co-design. We will describe how an online community was integrated in a recent health service design project; and discuss some observations from the design facilitators and responses from the project coordinators and participants.

service co-design; online communities; healthcare