£2.3m plan to improve hospital ward environments for vulnerable patients to set a precedent for future developments across Tayside

NHS Tayside’s endowment fund board of trustees has approved the investment in an effort to enhance and improve ward environments for older people, the visually impaired, those with cognitive problems including dementia, and people with learning disabilities.

Acting on the growing body of evidence that positive environments can reduce the stress and anxiety felt by patients, their carers and family members and enhance recovery, the work will start on one ‘prototype’ ward and, if successful, will be rolled out to around 60 environments in hospitals across the region.

The first phase of the project will take a whole ward area including kitchen, sluice room, preparation area and shower and toilet block, which will be redesigned to support patients, particularly those who are elderly or have dementia. Staff have worked with experts from the Dementia Services Development Centre at Stirling University to design the ward, which will feature:

• Colour-coded bed bays with pictorial signage to separate each area, lessening confusion and disorientation among patients
• Good signage and visual clues and pictures for areas that are patient focused, like bathrooms and toilets
• Clear orientation to time and day through analogue clocks with date and time and use of pictorial ‘welcome to the ward’ boards
• Camouflaged doors to hide areas that are not for public access, such as sluice rooms and kitchens
• Toilets and bathrooms positioned so they are readily visible and accessible by patients and can be easily recognised at night with picture and word signage
• Bathrooms that allow easier control of water temperature and provide fixtures which are familiar, such as taps in domestic designs and bold-coloured handrails, soap dispensers and toilet seats to help patients maintain their independence

The project will also contribute to the delivery of improved infection control, including the use of disposable curtains, improved sluice room technology and better storage. In addition, the new ward will benefit the Releasing Time to Care programme, which is aimed at reducing the amount of time nurses spend on non patient-facing activities.

If the initial evaluation is successful, a further £1m has been earmarked to roll out the design to 60 other wards across Tayside.

Sandy Watson, chairman of the NHS Tayside board of trustees, said: “Currently across Scotland there is no statutory format for a ward environment and today’s decision by the board of trustees will allow us to test out a whole ward design prototype which we believe will benefit patients and their carers and families, as well as staff, tremendously.

“We are very excited to be driving forward this prototype ward, which sees leading environmental design tailored for healthcare, coupled with new models of care delivery, being tested and evaluated over a short space of time so that patients and their families can start to see benefits almost immediately.

“We know specifically from evidence-based research that environments designed to meet the needs of older people and those with dementia are more likely to ensure those patients retain function, are less confused, have reduced frustration levels and, therefore, have a much improved hospital experience.”

The ward will be redesigned over the coming weeks and the planned three-month evaluation will be completed by March next year.

Watson said: “We are confident this new design will lead to a standard NHS Tayside ward layout. In terms of the important second phase of the work, which will see those design elements of the prototype which are specifically for older people and those with dementia spread to 60 wards across Tayside, we will make those changes over a period of 12 months.”