Pharmac

Pharmac is the government agency which funds medicines and medical devices in New Zealand.

While around 2,000 medicines are funded, there are over 230,000 medical devices - everything from dressings and syringes, through to hospital beds and MIR machines.

As the Service Designer for the Medical Devices Programme Delivery, my role includes:

  • Defining the current state of the service

  • Identifying stakeholder groups

  • Researching user needs

  • Problem identification

  • Journey mapping

  • Service blueprints

  • Setting a purpose and vision

  • Strategic design and user-centred communication

Understanding the service

After consulting existing documentation and government policies, I began conducting interviews internally at Pharmac to better understand the service offering in the medical devices space. I used Miro to map the various work stages and flows.

A detailed diagram or flowchart titled 'Current Service' with various color-coded sections, lists, and connections related to healthcare or pharmaceutical services.

Visualising the service

A large part of a a service designer’s role is to represent their findings visually. This enables stakeholders to easily understand service components and how they fit into the whole.

It allows an organisation to identify gaps in their service.

System-wide data flow


Flowchart of medical device procurement process showing websites, PHARMAC, hospitals, health system catalogue, spend data repository, financial procurement, and suppliers, with arrows indicating data flow and actions like orders, invoices, and data sharing.

Current state service delivery


Flowchart illustrating the process of device category management, contract management, and exceptions within a healthcare and pharmaceutical context, with sections labeled for different roles such as pharmacists, suppliers, the public, and health technology assessment.

User interviews

After conducting interviews from key stakeholder groups, I synthesised the insights in Miro.

A detailed infographic with colorful sticky notes organized into different categories and subcategories, titled "Insights from user interviews," covering topics related to pharmacy devices, procurement, supplier relationships, device safety, innovation, and terminology, including a legend explaining the color codes.

User journeys

From these insights I was able to develop journey maps for our user groups. These proved invaluable for us at Pharmac to understand and empathise with our users, and in setting the direction of the future service.

Hospital clinicians journey map illustrating stages from access to common devices, getting costly devices, assessing needs, waiting approval, to change of procedures, device safety, sustainability, and managing expectations, with associated concerns and experiences.

Designing the new

Taking the work onto the walls of a dedicated space allowed me to structure components and ideas, and to collaborate with SMEs. I took each work activity and allocated it to one of seven beneficial outcomes of the service I had identified. Using the double diamond, I was able to identify the problem space, and develop solutions with stakeholders.

Office conference room with large glass window covered in colorful sticky notes, whiteboards with sketches and notes, and printed charts on walls.
A comprehensive color-coded chart or table with columns and rows, containing text and highlights in green, purple, pink, blue, yellow, and white backgrounds, likely presenting detailed information, data, or processes across multiple categories and sections.

Creating digital documents of the work

Flowchart showing pharmacy's listed devices and hospital catalogues, including sections for pharmacy devices, national FPIM master data catalogue, district FPIM catalogues, ward sub-inventories, and suppliers.
Medical Devices Service Design Blueprint chart with categories: Physical Evidence, Medical Devices Pathway, Frontstage Actions, Line of Visibility, Backstage Actions, and Support Processes, detailing steps, activities, and responsibilities.

By developing a service blueprint which broke down the work stages - frontstage, backstage, supporting actvities, and the physical evidence at each step, I was able to begin testing scenarios and refining the service.

Service design blueprint