Introduction

Health has always been at the heart of our societies’ interests, although it has taken on different connotations over the centuries. From the concept of being the simple absence or curing of disease, we are moving towards an idea of well-being and quality of life as a priority in an increasingly ageing population. In either case, whether it is to fight diseases or ensure healthy ageing, we need effective strategies and physical goods. Over the centuries, the healthcare sector has built up its own unique collection of drugs, products and devices that are essential for daily routines as well as emergency medical procedures. This system of goods that fills our healthcare facilities, but also and even more so, our homes, does not come without side effects. Like any other manufacturing sector, these include resource consumption, energy demand, waste production, but healthcare has peculiarities that make the dark side of the system particularly critical, from the huge demand for chemicals and radioactive products, through the release of drugs into the environment, to the immense production of special waste requiring dedicated management.

For years, it seemed to be just a small - economic and environmental - price to pay in order to ensure the health of our societies. Over the past 25 years, people have gradually become aware that this price is not cheap and above all has a direct and negative effect on our health. The same system that fights cancer produces tons of carcinogens with devastating effects on people and the environment. The turning point was precisely that human health cannot be dissociated from the planet’s health.

How to reimagine two aspects that for decades have progressed on separate tracks? And where should we begin to rethink the products that make up our healthcare systems?

Sustainable healthcare is an increasingly debated concept that is fascinating, forward-looking, and necessary, yet sometimes still too theoretical. The complexity of rules and laws in a sector such as MedTech, combined with the incredible complexity of patient safety requirements, makes a sustainable transition more challenging than in any other sector. Yet small tangible steps are possible, starting from the product but with an eye to the system, because the complexity of MedTech makes simple ‘green’ device logic useless. It is necessary to start small, from the bottom, but with an overall vision of the sector and its sustainability goals. To achieve this, the first step is education. Engineers, designers and experienced MedTech professionals cannot be expected to suddenly incorporate sustainable strategies and criteria into their design process. What strategies? By what means? They should first understand what sustainable design means, what circular healthcare is all about, and how they can define practical tools for their specific MedTech solutions.

This book is based on these assumptions and aims to provide professionals working or aspiring to work in MedTech with an overview of the sector from a sustainability perspective (Chapters 1 and 2). Then, the publication provides some practical concepts and guidelines for sustainable MedTech product development, considering products, services and packaging (Chapter 3). It then moves on to explore governance and business strategies to include sustainability at the company-system level, also delving into the concept of systemic design (Chapter 4). Finally, the conclusions highlight the most promising trends in sustainable MedTech, which designers and managers should take into account in the medium and long term. While the book is designed as a stand-alone publication, it is also the result, and an integral part, of the ‘Sustainability in MedTech Design’ online training programme, which was developed within the SysteMA project, funded by EIT Manufacturing (id. 22111). The training is available on the Skills. move platform (www.skillsmove.eu), which offers training courses for manufacturing practitioners.

1 Design for better health and care: towards sustainable healthcare

Design for better health and care: towards a sustainable healthcare