Project Summary

What if all of your personal records, including your relevant personal health and care records, were held in one place that you control?

In this project, we explored whether a Personal Data Store, which we have called a ‘Backpack’, could make it easier to access health and care services, and support services to be centred around the wishes and needs of the person.

Design researchers from The Innovation School at The Glasgow School of Art worked together with a community interest company (Mydex CIC) and a health professional (Dr. Jamie Hogg, NHS Grampian) to explore and develop the Backpack idea with people living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and with health and social care staff. People living with MS were identified as highly knowledgeable co-design participants, due to the complex and progressive nature of the condition, requiring many different interactions with public services.

The aims of the project were to explore how people living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) would like to manage their personal information in order to improve the experience of accessing services, and understand the potential of the Backpack to support health and care professionals to deliver more integrated and person-centred care.