Healthcare on the move : treating patients in the community : the Smart Pods Project

Smart Pods is the first-ever Royal College of Art (RCA)/ Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) multi-disciplinary healthcare project. It has grown out of the College’s chartered commitment to engage with ‘social developments’ through design – a commitment which has led to the establishment ofour pioneering Helen Hamlyn Research Centre and, further back in time, to our celebrated ‘NHS bed’ design research project for the King’s Fund. This brought together designers, clinicians, medical researchers and technologists in a redesign of the hospital bed, resulting in a new research and design methodology for healthcare.