live|work

Live|work was a pioneer of service design thinking and we have a world-wide reputation for thought leadership and high-impact service solutions.

Our clients are blue-chip public and private sector organisations who wish either to innovate new services or to re-focus existing services to produce a radically improved customer experience. We offer our clients a range of benefits, from strategic service planning to service delivery, via innovation management and customer experience insights.

Our practice is based on a belief in deep user involvement, complemented by a skill set that enables us to rapidly visualise ideas, test and design service experiences. Building and sustaining differentiation through service has been challenging organisations for decades, and traditional consultancies have largely failed to deliver the step change required by their clients.

Live|work's record of driving new ideas and creating mould-breaking services makes us an obvious new partner to help you deliver your service vision.

Projects

• NHS Innovation & Improvement Institute: MS Services

Rethinking services for people with Multiple Sclerosis

Issue
There are 85,000 people with Multiple Sclerosis in the UK and it is the most common disabling neurological condition affecting young adults. MS is often diagnosed relatively early in life and people therefore live with MS for many years, often decades. Quality of life with MS depends on good ongoing medical, practical and emotional support. In Ealing, West London, people with MS were not receiving the level of support they – or government guidelines – required and the Primary Care Trust needed to rethink their existing services to better meet patient needs.

Change
Patients in Ealing had consistently found it hard to find and receive the care that they needed. Working with the NHS Innovation & Improvement Institute live|work partnered with a team at Ealing PCT and local MS patients to identify what was needed. live|works service re-design ensures that each patient is given access to a specific MS service that is tailored to their individual needs during the different stages of their life. Patients are also given direct access to relevant information and a clinical team who they can communicate with online, over the phone or face-to-face.

Results
This re-design is currently being implemented by Ealing PCT and is a part of the NHS Innovation & Improvement Institute’s innovation programme. The PCT have funded the development of the new service and the new specialist MS team will be in place for the summer of 2008. The service is expected to both improve care, quality of life and outcomes for patients and reduce the number of patients resorting to hospital treatment.

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