The NHS is a wonderful service. When it comes to providing assistance for volunteers, security organisations, charities, and the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS), the talented team at Shropshire-based, architect firm, Johnson Design Partnership, are more than happy to offer their services as healthcare architects.
Within a hospital or other NHS facility, it stands a chance that the charities and volunteers present aren’t necessarily full-time on a single site. However, the areas they are using will still be in use every day, and so ensuring they are adequate to fulfil the needs of whomever is using them is crucial.
A charity or group of volunteers may be visiting for a day, or sometimes several, to provide a certain medical course or offer advice on certain things. It could even be a local group occasionally visiting for a coffee morning, or a regular social event. Whatever the case, the hospital environment can be a distressing place.
However, the creative medical architects at JDP hope to show that a dash of innovation and inspiration within hospital design, alongside their more-than-adequate skillsets required to help draw up building plans for a suitable, sustainable, innovative space, can prove that hospital and other NHS spaces don’t have to be places of worry, but ones where people can feel at peace.
Ensuring patients, attendees, and staff often have a 360-degree view of their surroundings is not only functional, but it can have the additional benefits of making all feel calmer knowing that everyone is visible. It can distract patients from certain situations (e.g., giving blood) and this is important in making them feel comfortable. A more open space allows for a lower number of staff, meaning they can maintain complete control of the session, or that a local group feel comfortable that all members are involved.
Clear signage is also a key consideration to JDP when designing space to support such groups or individuals. You don’t want poor Tina thinking she’s come to give blood, only to have a foot amputated by mistake! Arrows and signage clearly highlighting different areas of the hospital show exactly where to go and where to welcome, serve, help, access and provide services for one another.
Clear wayfinding design and signage is all well and good, but if spaces aren’t easily accessible and hassle-free to navigate, then things won’t end well. It’s important to consider if there’s a lift nearby that is operational, as stairs may prove difficult or cause distress. Handrails to support those less mobile, and comfortable chairs are also favoured by patients; helping them to feel supported and cared for.
With such a wide range of volunteers and charities in and out of these open or private spaces, hygiene and proper equipment are crucial. Appropriate health and hygiene products are a must, as is having showers where possible, and ensuring toilets are accessible and plentiful.
There also needs to be safe but accessible areas for medical equipment and the storage and disposal of hazardous materials, for volunteers and charities to use if required. JDP understands these are things attendees, patients, and staff are grateful to have- hence incorporating them in previous healthcare projects to great success.
Artwork unique to the local area, flowers on tables, and windows that allow a glimpse to the outside world, are all ways in which volunteers and charities can feel supported, because they help the space feel more homely. It gives people a sense of community, and JDP understand that this is important to many. Posters highlighting what charity events are taking place, or noting the good that volunteering can do, help to reinforce positivity and remind people of the good people can do.
All the aspects of support mentioned above also feed into supporting security teams and the PALS services. Security teams are crucial in ensuring the safety of all, and they can’t operate as efficiently if they aren’t provided with the support mentioned above. Uniform is important in identification, but they also need to know exactly where to go- which is aided by the supports put in place that JDP’s medical architects have considered, as noted.
PALS, is a free, confidential service offered by the NHS to help patients, their families, and carers with any concerns they may have about their healthcare experience. The aim is to provide support, information, and guidance, helping to resolve issues and improve communication between patients and healthcare providers. Often, this may require private rooms, so the ways of support mentioned above are all applicable to spaces in which PALS operate.
All the factors noted above seek to offer support to various sectors of the NHS and those who use the facilities. A proven track record, not only with healthcare projects but in other sectors too, shows that JDP’s ethos of bringing innovative and sustainable projects to life that benefit many is clearly a positive one.
JDP take pride in being an architect firm that ensures no two finished projects are 1:1 copies of each other. The NHS may have some similarities in how things run amongst different areas, but JDP still aim to provide both staff and patients with a hospital design that feels unique to them and the area and community. They are an opportunity to help foster a sense of community spirit and support, whilst ensuring these operations can run for years to come.
