Living labs

The Rural Centre of Excellences has five living labs structured environments for collaboration, co-design and testing of digital health and care solutions. Each Living Lab responds to identified local and national challenges, whilst contributing to wider learning and impact.

Scotland has one of the highest obesity levels in Europe, with two-thirds of adults overweight and one-third living with obesity. This contributes significantly to long-term conditions such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and reduced quality of life.

Supported self-management empowers individuals to take greater control of their health and wellbeing, leading to improved outcomes and increased satisfaction with care. In response, RCE in collaboration with industry and public sector partners, have developed a digital solution in Moray to support weight management and active living.

The Personal Health & Care Record App will offer remote assessments, activity monitoring, dietary tracking, two-way messaging and personalised goal setting. This living lab takes a preventative, population level-approach, connecting individuals with the right information and support to help manage weight and reduce the risk of developing associated conditions such as high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.
An ageing population, declining birth rates and increasing prevalence of long-term conditions continue to place pressure on health and care services across Scotland. The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the essential role of digital health solutions such as video consultations, in supporting service delivery.

Conditions including diabetes, heart disease and cancer are increasing across all groups, alongside growing demand for mental health support. Digital tools can enable individuals to better manage their conditions through access to self-help resources, symptom monitoring and timely support.

The Rural Centre of Excellence in partnership with front-line staff and citizens across Moray is exploring innovative digital solutions that improves health and wellbeing, reduces administrative pressures and increase meaningful face-to-face time between staff and patients.

This living lab is initially focused on supporting people with type 2 diabetes. The aim is to connect individuals with the right service at the right time, drawing on community-based support where appropriate, and ensuring specialist clinical resources are directed to those with the greatest need.

Key partners include the Rural Centre of Excellence, NHS Grampian Dietic Service in Moray, clinical teams supporting type 2 diabetes management and Moray Leisure Centre.

An innovative wellness platform, Heart of Moray is now being developed and tested. It provides a supportive community for people living with overweight and obesity related conditions, offering guided self-management and improved connections to local services. More information about this project and opportunities to get involved can be found Heart of Moray- Improving health and wellbeing together.

New digital tools are being introduced, this includes an app within Community Connections that collects health and wellbeing data from devices such as Apple Health and Fitbit; a leisure centre interface that is linked to a personal data store, offering personalised local services through a leisure centre membership and an NHS Clinical interface which enables consent-based access to data and support from healthcare professionals. These tools will expand access to diet and lifestyle support in ways that suit individuals’ needs and preferences.

This work is attracting national interest, with further development and wider adoption beyond Moray expected as the project continues to evolve.

Living Lab 2B: Community Occupational Therapy Pathway

Demand for equipment and adaptions through Occupational Therapy services has increased significantly in recent years. Individuals with moderate needs are currently facing waiting times of up to 18 months for assessment.

This Living Lab focuses on developing solutions that enable citizens and those who support them, to access information earlier, understand available options and take preventative action.

Tools currently in development include AskSARA, a nationally used self-assessment platform providing impartial, personalised recommendations for equipment and adaptations based on a short series of questions. AskSARA will be available through the Community Connections Moray platform, alongside information about the Moray Occupational Therapy Service, including eligibility criteria, waiting times and referral guidance.

A referral management system is currently in development and is testing. This will be connected via the Personal Data Store, allowing users to automatically populate a detail referral using their existing ‘about me’ information, improving the quality of referrals received by the service. Triage supported by AI will help reduce the clinical time spent on referral management tasks.

Living Lab 2C: Prevent Progress of Diabetes App

Developed in partnership with Healthcare Improvement Scotland and tested with Elgin Health Centre, this project has contributed to shaping the latest SIGN guidelines for type 2 diabetes prevention and remission.

This work has informed the development of both clinical and citizen-facing tools hosted on the Right Decision Service platform. Testing has demonstrated improvements in users’ knowledge, confidence and motivation to make positive lifestyle changes.
The Covid-19 Pandemic has placed significant and lasting pressures on the health and social care in Moray, particularly within community care. Long waiting times, rural isolation, workforce pressures and challenges in crisis prevention have increased strain on unpaid carers.

Consultations reveal a need for better communication, reduced duplication and easier access to support. Carers often face the burden of repeating information, while professionals struggle to access crucial data, impacting care quality and efficiency.

This Living lab is developing digital platforms, currently being tested in Forres and Lossiemouth areas with unpaid carers. These platforms act as a ‘one-stop shop’, enabling people to tell their story once through a Personal Data Store and consent to share information across services. This supports the creation of detailed referrals without the need for repeated form-filling. Initial testing has been completed, with further integration work underway.
The UK’s transition from analogue to digital phone-lines have had a significant impact on “lifeline” devices that rely on older technology. As residents across Moray upgrade to digital services, opportunities arise to enhance safety, independence and wellbeing through smart technologies.

Devices such as smart speakers, wearables and sensors offer the potential to monitor health, mobility and daily activity, helping reduce hospital admissions and improve quality of life. The Rural Centre of Excellence, working with Health and Social Care Moray, is exploring how these technologies can support independent living.

The Smart Housing Project aims to help people remain safe and well in their own homes for longer, maximising independence, reduce reliance on care services and minimising hospitalisation. With the national switch-off of analogue phone lines planned for January 2027, this Living Lab supports a shift from reactive telecare to proactive Technology Enabled Care (TEC).

The Rural Centre of Excellence is collaborating with Moray Growth Deal’s Housing Mix Project and the Built Environment- Smarter Transformation (BE-ST) innovation centre to develop a Smart Home Digital Blueprint, bringing together expertise from design, construction and digital sectors to shape the future of smart homes.
This living lab focuses on developing and testing innovative solutions to address poor mental health and low well-being- issues, challenges that carry significant social and economic impact.  With an estimated one billion people worldwide affected by mental health conditions, this Living Lab aims to improve access to support, promote positive wellbeing and reduce loneliness across Moray.

Early research and development have on enhancing Community Connections Moray, to include mental health and wellbeing information and improved access to relevant services.

Up to 50 volunteers from health and care staff groups have been recruited to test an innovative AI-enabled early intervention and prevention platform, eMoodie.