Static Systems Group has unveiled the latest development in its Design & Innovation Centre based at the company’s head office near Wolverhampton.
A new single-bed ‘Concept Ward’ aims to showcase future healthcare technology and innovation and foster greater industry collaboration in ward design.
The launch of the Concept Ward comes exactly two years after the opening of the company’s Design & Innovation Centre (D&IC), which had, at its core, a four-bed bay repeatable room design.
Our new Concept Ward is the natural progression from the Design & Innovation Centre in that it takes ward design to the next level, is visionary, and aims to demonstrate future healthcare technology and innovation
Phil Wade, marketing director at Static Systems, said: “Our new Concept Ward is the natural progression from the Design & Innovation Centre in that it takes ward design to the next level, is visionary, and aims to demonstrate future healthcare technology and innovation.
We always intended for our Design & Innovation Centre to extend beyond the four-bed ward, which is very much about demonstrating features that are readily available now.
“As a technology-led company, we’re always looking to develop new ideas and we wanted to introduce something that was forward-thinking and would also complement the original four-bed ward, which will continue to play an important role in standard ward design.”
As with the four-bed ward, the development of the Concept Ward has been backed by support, investment and the provision of technology from a number of leading industry suppliers including Tarkett Flooring, Ideal Standard UK, Rockfon, Thorlux Lighting, Akzo Nobel and KwickScreen.
During its development, Static Systems also consulted with a number of organisations and industry representatives including healthcare planners, nursing managers, architects and construction teams and key industry bodies.
But, as Wade explains, the close collaboration with suppliers and healthcare professionals doesn’t stop now the ward has been built. He said: “Our vision for the Concept Ward, alongside our well-established four-bed ward, is for a facility that can be used by the wider industry to test, trial and develop innovative solutions and conceptual ideas.
“We want to encourage closer collaborative working among equipment suppliers and specialists, nursing management teams, patient representatives, healthcare planners, design groups, constructors and other interested parties to enable the ongoing provision and delivery of world-class buildings and facilities and to help improve healthcare outcomes for all.
Rather like the concept car that is unveiled at motor shows; we would like to see the Concept Ward as a healthcare hub where ideas that start out as theories might just come to fruition and be seen as the norm five or more years down the line
Pete Sellars, president of the Institute of Healthcare Engineering & Estate Management (IHEEM) and former head of profession for NHS estates and facilities policy at the Department of Health, said of the approach: “The need for closer industry engagement across the healthcare industry is undisputable.
“In the Carter Review, which I was closely involved in at the time, Lord Carter stressed the importance of ‘collaborating to deliver high-quality, efficient patient care’. Static Systems’ Concept Ward is a great example of the benefits to be gained from adopting this approach.
“By actively seeking to engage with professionals involved in the future design and build of hospital wards, Static Systems approach will encourage much-broader thinking and innovation, leading to the development of solutions that meet the needs of patients and nursing management teams.”
Wade added: “The importance of close engagement and greater industry collaboration was stressed in both the recommendations of the Carter Review last year and, more recently, in the Engineering Better Care Report; and our Concept Ward provides an ideal platform to foster this engagement and collaboration.
“You can’t easily test new technologies or processes in a live ward scenario and that’s where the Concept Ward comes into its own.
“It enables healthcare professionals to test these things in a safe and controlled environment, and to shape future ward design that addresses the core goals of workflow efficiency, patient safety and patient experience – goals that also happen to be central to our approach to designing, producing and implementing healthcare communications systems.
By actively seeking to engage with professionals involved in the future design and build of hospital wards, Static Systems approach will encourage much-broader thinking and innovation, leading to the development of solutions that meet the needs of patients and nursing management teams
“Rather like the concept car that is unveiled at motor shows; we would like to see the Concept Ward as a healthcare hub where ideas that start out as theories might just come to fruition and be seen as the norm five or more years down the line.”
Static Systems is now encouraging healthcare representatives to share their ward design challenges or futuristic ideas so that these can be explored in the Concept Ward. The company will also be making the Concept Ward available as a venue for industry workshops and seminars.
