With over 80 attendees, including 18 guests from the Antipodean Health study tour, AfH hosted an enlightening evening of presentations and lively debate focussing on Healthcare planning and design in Australia.

The evening started with a “word from our sponsors”, the Copper Development Association. They provided an update and some extremely encouraging evidence, through clinical trials, of the beneficial effects of copper in relation to infection control. Any product which can boast a 75% reduction in HAI through the introduction of just 6 copper components has got to be worthy of further research. Interestingly, with no examples of this in practice within the UK or Australia, there’s a real opportunity for learning from this global best practice and being one of the first to use copper “touch surfaces” components within the UK and Australia.

Andy Black (Andy Black CV), of Durrow Consulting, provided an illuminating overview of the Royal Adelaide Hospital briefing process, comparing the two approaches of ‘centralised’ and ‘distributed’, to designing a University Hospital for the future. Andy emphasised the importance of the civic status and presence of a University Hospital, as one which could re-invigorate and re-generate it’s host city. Andy Black presentation.

Dr Keith Joe, (Keith Joe CV) of the Australian Centre for Health Innovation, presented a fresh perspective of healthcare design, through the eyes of a practising Health professional specialising in Trauma medicine. Keith shared his experience and his ideas for his ED, which reflected his vision of using “the most advanced IT systems and best recent thinking”, resulting in the Royal Melbourne Hospital ED being totally electronic. Keith shared his view on the latest IT systems and technologies, challenging all of us present to “design for mission control in all your Hospitals”. Dr Keith Joe presentation.

Jane Carthey, (Jane Carthey CV) of the Australian Health Design Council, shared with us her work at Rice Daubney Architecture, including the inspirational Chris O’Brien Lifehouse Cancer Centre at the Royal Prince Albert Hospital in Sydney. Jane told the story of Chris O’Brien’s experience, similar to that of Maggie Jencks, with a comparable “humane” response to creating a facility to treat the whole person.

Ruari Reeves, (Ruairi Reeves CV) Associate MAAP, presented the story of the New Glenside Health facilities in Adelaide, highlighting the benefit of the “enablement stage” where a new model of care could be tested. This new 129 bed mental health facility, quietly understates it’s “big idea” through modest single storey architecture. The re-interpretation of the South Australia vernacular architecture with a combination of verandas and gardens provides a uniquely local response whilst delivering a potentially global solution for large scale mental health facilities. Ruairi Reeves presentation.

Jeff Menkens and Brendan Kelly, (Jeff Menkens & Brenden Kelly CV) Principals at Hassell’s Perth Studio, concluded the presentations with a detailed design presentation of the 800 bed Fiona Stanley Hospital in Western Australia. Whilst absorbing the scale of the scheme across the equivalent of four city blocks, the team managed to retain the original concept of reflecting the bush-land context. It was refreshing to hear how the façade treatment had been inspired by a particular native flower, responding to the specific solar conditions of this location. Brenden Kelly and Jeff Menkens presentation copy.

John Cooper summarised the evening’s presentations as a “embodying synergies across context, master-planning, civic importance and local sensitivity,  providing a uniquely Australian contribution to the Global debate on Healthcare design”

Lastly we would like to thank our guests, who having seen 14 healthcare facilities in 10 days across the Netherlands, Norway and England, managed to find time (and the energy) to participate in such an enjoyable and informative evening.

RCJ 14.05.12

We launched our new website and we had a stand showcasing members projects at 2 national conferences. Our membership numbers have increased, our database is in good order and equally importantly, members have paid their subscriptions. Our finances are in sound order.

We have a full calendar of events for 2012. We held a very exciting and successful Student Design Charette  with London South Bank University and MARU in January. We visited South Bristol Community Hospital and are arranging to see more buildings in Wales this summer. We are planning joint events with other organisations including the London Arts for Health Forum, London Design Week, IHEEM, HEI and EUHPN.

Thanks to the Executive Committee Members and Director, Susan Francis, for making it all happen.

Executive committee

We would also like to thank 3 co-opted committee members who are standing down – Tim Peters, David McNeish and Richard Griffin. Roy Carroll, Claudia Bloom and Marissa Shek have been voted onto the Executive Committee for a three year term 2012-15. Carol Crane, Chris Shaw and Leslie Welch have been co-opted onto the committee for this year 2012. The appointment of Susan Francis as Director has been extended.

Sponsorship

We are very grateful to Polyflor for continuing to provide corporate sponsorship. We received generous sponsorship from Mace for the 2012 Student Design Competition and are delighted that they have committed to sponsoring us again next year. Five architectural practices also sponsored the Student Design Charette. We are continuing to seek further sponsorship for our events programme.

John Cooper Chair  AfH

We invited 3 speakers to talk about their specific experiences of working in different ways

Arnold Levin             Principal/Workplace Strategy Dir NBBJ

Chris Shaw               Director Medical Architecture

John Worthington    Founder of DEGW

Arnold Levin described the difference between change and change management: he suggested that design professionals often engage in discussions at a briefing stage about how the organisation would like to do things in the future: but few get beyond communication and space use to understand how corporations/ clients operate and how they can actually implement change. Various models are already up and running that can be deployed to support this process such as The STAR model, organographs etc and that help to link change at the strategic level. Transitional planning can be tested using actors and staff to run through scenarios before hospitals open to tests processes and designs. How do we shift the paradigm of design into a broader and more strategic context?

Chris Shaw sketched out the difference between procurement based consultation and developing a vision for the future involving identifying the movers and shakers that can implement change. Stakeholder engagement as part of procurement based design is backward looking; it is designed to get buy-in rather than promote vision as well as being inefficient and costly. Liverpool Academic Medical Centre is a vehicle for developing a different process in which wider issues of health care strategy for the city can be opened up for debate.

John Worthington invited us to consider the building as an asset and to think about improving business performance through innovative property solutions. He suggested that

• Efficiency is about making the most of the space
• Effectiveness is about making the most of people
• Expression is about the brand and the messages

The role of designers is to moderate and optimise in a process of continuous change. He urged us to think about making the most of the neighbourhood context, thinking laterally, and about devising a non-determinant architecture.

As clients become more resilient in the business place, so designers will find themselves in a position to manage space, time and technology through collaboration to achieve strategic change.

We turned the world upside down and then tried to imagine what designers would do to effect change in a strategic and visionary way.  It was a challenge and it was fun!

For full presentations please see below:

Design for Change, Christopher Shaw
Changing how we work and managing the change, Arnold Levin
Your Building as an Asset, John Worthington

More information on this initative go to the website. A sopecial edition of the BMJ covers key issues

http://www.nhssustainabilityday.co.uk/

BMJ published a special series on climate change following the Health and Climate Council conference  ‘The Health and Security Implications of Climate Change’, held last October at the BMA.

http://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.e1018

Health secretary Andrew Lansley has set out what the Health and Social Care Act will mean for health and care organisations and their staff – clinical commissioning groups, NHS foundation trusts, NHS trusts and local authorities.

He explains there are two simple principles at the heart of the act – that patients should share in every decision about their care and those responsible for patient care should have the “freedom and power to lead an NHS that delivers continually improving care”.

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Lettersandcirculars/Dearcolleagueletters/DH_133419

The following Special Issue will be published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health – IJERPH (ISSN 1660-4601, http://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph/) <http://webmail.hpa.org.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph/)> , and is now open to receive submissions of full research papers and comprehensive review articles for peer-review and possible publication: Special Issue: Energy Conservation Measures, Indoor Air Quality and Health Website: http://www.mdpi.com/si/ijerph/indoor_air_quality/ <http://webmail.hpa.org.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.mdpi.com/si/ijerph/indoor_air_quality/>

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2012

FREE EVENT – 19 April 2012 – Thistle Hotel, Glasgow, G2 3HN

The BRE Innovation Park@Ravenscraig is now well under development with the first phase of buildings being constructed in May 2012. This will include the BRE Visitor Centre and a number of buildings which will demonstrate affordable solutions to future low carbon housing requirements. BRE is also developing a retrofit demonstration on the Park to showcase and measure products and technologies which can improve the performance of the existing housing stock.

This FREE event can be booked online Innovation Park Brokering Event <http://webmail.hpa.org.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.bre.co.uk/eventdetails.jsp?id=6096>  or contact Jackie Reilly reillyj@bre.co.uk, telephone 01355 576200

A survey of NHS leaders showing the importance of sustainability in driving up quality, productivity and value;

An Ipsos MORI public opinion survey demonstrating how sustainable the public think the NHS should be;

The latest NHS carbon footprint.

For more information and to download the report Sustainability in the NHS: Health Check 2012, please visit www.sdu.nhs.uk/healthcheck2012.

The event provided an opportunity to show case members work and promote “Architects for Health” in the North.

Rosemary Jenssen, Executive Committee member of AfH, attended and presented on “100% single rooms – dispelling the urban myth”. It was great to see so many committed delegates remaining to hear Rosemary’s presentation, in the final slot of the day. We trust they were rewarded by an insightful presentation and personal view of current situation in relation to single bedrooms, from both the patients, staff and managers perspectives.

It is astonishing that since the publication of the EUHPN Report in 2004, “Determinants influencing single room provision”, and the evidence contained there-in that only one NHS 100% single bedroom Hospital has been built In England. Within the next generation of PFI Hospital developments, three have committed to 100% single bedrooms.

We now have a number of 100% single bedroom Hospitals in operation (Pembury Hospital as visited by AfH members in May, with visits to other 100% single bedded Hospitals planned in 2012). Research needs to be undertaken and the findings published to support the “dispelling of the urban myths around capital and revenue costs”.

In exploring the changing attitudes and expectations of each generation, it was illuminating to hypothesise as to the demands which might be placed by empowered and informed patients and families. In the age of “NHS savings” and reduced income, could 100% single bedrooms provide the answer? By providing patients with their own personal space (within a single bedroom), could the clinician-patient dynamic be shifted? How will the social needs be addressed for longer term patients? Florence Nightingale recognised that “unnecessary noise…….absence of care…..will do more harm….than all the medicines in the world will do good.” Could 100% single rooms be the catalyst for change for the good or “the straw that finally breaks the NHS camel’s back”?

Many of the Speakers presented very topical and informative material including, Trevor Payne on UCLH’s approach to Sustainability and carbon reduction, and David Harper on the much debated issue of Pseudomonas.

The event was well attended with over 30%, of the 100 attendees, representing NHS Trust organisations including Estates Directors, Estates Managers, Capital Projects Managers  and Maintenance Managers.

In our drive to promote the organisation at Regional events, we have committed to support HEI at their Bristol event on the 25^th April, more details to follow.