Manifesto - Design in Care Environments

Since I can remember I was attending or visiting hospitals and care centres for myself and family. I, like most people found these places to be sterile, cold and uninviting environments. I found this confusing, as these are environments in which people are meant to recover both physically and mentally and although most people wouldn’t think about the effects the environment has on people, it fascinated me to think that we still lack basic design which can have so many benefits for not only patients, but healthcare workers too.


The architectural design of public buildings such as hospitals and care centres has been overlooked for decades now, being made to be low cost, factory like environments. The focus and aim has primarily been on physical functioning, to simply treat individuals illnesses and health issues medically. This has often led to the neglect of patients other needs such as mental health and psychological, social and spiritual needs.


Hospitals and places of care have, to many people, have been known for their intense and traumatic environments. To reduce being in these unpleasant environments, there are now some more comforting facilities that are being built. Maggie Centres are ‘emotionally charged’ buildings that shape the way care is provided, practiced and received in everyday ways through architectural design. They provide free social, emotional and practical support for cancer patients and their family/friends. These unique and ‘emotionally charged’ architectural buildings focus and analyse how colour and light are experienced, how materials are used and how space affects people.

 

I believe in the importance of ‘salutogenic design’, which is when the focus of design is beneficial for human health, making people happier and therefore healthier. In particular, I think that hospitals and places of care should be incorporating aspects such as bright colours, outdoor gardens, plants and greenery  and comfortable gathering areas. A well designed space lifts patients’ moods and self image and as a result can actually contribute to a patients recovery and/or quality of life. Simplistic posters on an acute psychiatric clinic found that patients aggression was 70% lower compared to when the walls were blank, therefore demonstrating there is a definite relation between design and patients mood and behaviour.


I believe that the government needs to provide an increase in support and funding for the NHS and private practices to provide better designed environments to not only support the patients needs, but also healthcare professionals who work everyday in these conditions. As well as monetary funding, more hospitals should be built to ease hospital overcrowding, stress of wait times and availability for employees and patients (all of which affect individuals mental health). A proposal of 40 new hospitals are to be built by 2030, giving hope that more positively impacting environments will be benefitting patients and healthcare staff in the future.




My key values: 

• The importance of salutogenic design and healing architectures benefits on human health and recovery.

• The increase of hospitals being built in the future to reduce the strain on patients and healthcare workers.

• Supporting an increase in government funding for the NHS and private healthcare facilities to create more supportive and positive environments to aid recovery.

• Create awareness and a wider understanding on how the environment around us affects mental health.



50 years from now on:

• All places of care should be salutogenically designed, benefitting the human health.

• At least 50 more hospitals should be built to reduce strain on the NHS and therefore less stress for patients and healthcare workers. 

• Change the stigma regarding mental health and make education accessible for everyone.

• Government providing more funding to create well designed environments and care facilities.



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