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Experience Based Design (EBD)

Experience based design (EBD) is a quality improvement approach that uses the experience of service users to identify opportunities for improvement. This approach involves working with patients, service users and staff to get an insight into how our services, systems and pathways make people feel. Once we understand these experiences, we can work together to identify what matters and make improvements centred on their needs.

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Leaders in EBD

We are the leading provider of the Experience Based Design approach

Cost effective

We offer cost-effective solutions tailored for healthcare

Team of experts

Our team has over 20 years of clinical experience improving services

Why choose NHS Elect?

We are the leading provider of Experience Based Design (EBD) in the UK. We have extensive experience of designing processes and systems to support this Quality Improvement (QI) technique in a wide range of clinical settings - including inpatient and outpatient services, acute frailty pathways and staff wellbeing. 

Our online tools allow teams to undertake emotional mapping at scale, rapidly bringing service user perspective into improvement projects. We can help you make key impprovements that matter to stakeholders.

Benefits of EBD

Many services that we've helped have experienced a number of benefits due to Experience Based Design. Here are just some of the reasons why this approach can benefit you:

Better understanding than FFT

Experience Based Design goes beyond the Friends and Family Test - it provides a richer understanding of what matters to service users, revealing opportunities for improvements centered on their needs.

Identifies what matters most

This approach helps people tell their story by pinpointing the moments that matter. We can capture the emotional responses at every stage, resulting in more meaningful improvements.

Importance of working together

There is a recognition that the professional doesn't always know best when it comes to design and that each individual is an expert in their own experience. The ethos is very much focused on working together to make improvements.

What support will you get?

Access to online learning

Understand more about EBD theory and application through our online learning platform. There is no limit to the number of staff that can access this platform.

End-to-end support

Support using EBD tools, so you can identify issues for improvement based on patient and staff experience - either within your organisation or across a system.

Data tools to identify issues

Access to EBD data tools to undertake ‘emotional mapping’ studies at scale.

Improve service user experience

Support for your site to collect EBD data, undertake analysis, and co-design improvements with the local patient experience team and patient groups. All with the aim of enhancing care for service users.

Understand major themes

At system level, we support collaboration across sites to understand the major themes in patient and staff experience. By identifying where improvements are needed, services can provide a better experience.

QI measures

Support for every site to agree on local QI measures. This will demonstrate whether co-designed change areas are improving the experience of care.

Improving staff wellbeing across the NHS

Alice Clayton explains some of the work the team have been doing on measuring and improving staff wellbeing across the NHS, including:

  • Sharing an Experience Based Design approach to emotional mapping
  • Explaining how emotional mapping can help us to understand and improve staff experience across the NHS
  • Lessons learnt from a national study on NHS staff wellbeing
  • How emotional mapping can inform strategy and lead to measured improvements in staff experience on a large scale

Published articles

Read more about how our EBD tools have led to greater understanding of the issues impacting on NHS staff and patients:

Testimonials

"Acute hospital care is all too often focused on bed-days, waiting lists and discharge decisions. Experience Based Design helps clinicians focus more on improvements that matter to patients and provide a better experience"
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Professor Simon Conroy
Geriatrician - Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
"NHS Elect's EBD tool is one of the most useful and simple ways I have come across of capturing meaningful patient experience as part of a largescale service improvement initiative."
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Nathan Hall
Deputy Director Diagnostics - Physiological Science NHS England
"Working with NHS Elect’s professional and highly responsive team, we implemented their EBD approach across Dorset GP Practices. The EBD approach empowered our staff, giving them a platform to express what truly mattered to them and contribute valuable suggestions for improvement. This ongoing dialogue is significantly enhancing our workplace environment and service delivery."
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Ian Gall
Patient and Public Lead, Dorset General Practice Alliance

Meet our award-winning team

The award-winning Improvement Networks Team at NHS Elect has over 20 years of experience working with front-line teams to improve services and systems. We have successfully supported over 140 hospitals in England and teams internationally to adopt and improve their clinical models. Our Acute Frailty Network has won two HSJ awards in the last 12 months.

 Find out more about the Improvement Network team >

Get in touch

We would like to hear more about your needs. To arrange a call with one of our team, please email Deborah Thompson, Managing Director.

Contact us

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020 3925 4851
info@nhselect.org.uk
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