ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the difficult challenges that unite all healthcare providers and focuses on the opportunities arising from healthcare engaging with design and design engaging healthcare – whether it be at a global, national or local level. The constitution of the World Health Organization articulates that health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Indeed the determinants that influence an individual’s state of health are many and varied. G. Dahlgren and Whitefield’s diagram illustrates the macro forces and relationships of these determinants. The United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) was conceived in 1948. Small Business Research Initiatives are a valuable resource for innovators and small enterprises as they provide early-stage funding and a high level of visibility within the NHS, thus providing a potential gateway into supplying the NHS.
