Home > Library > Health Building Notes >

In-patient accommodation options for choice - HBN 4

Open day/evening to view a new layout for a single room en-suite bathroom

Thursday 8 June 2006 at the Hillingdon Hospital

Health Building Note 4 'In-patient accommodation' (1997) is currently being updated. As part of this work, the Department of Health has commissioned some research into the size and layout of single room en-suite bathrooms to identify a space-efficient design that would meet the needs of all patients. A full size mock up of the new design has been built at Hillingdon Hospital, Uxbridge.

You are invited to come and see the mock up at our Open Day/Evening on Thursday 8 June 2006 from 2.00pm to 8.00pm, at Hillingdon Hospital NHS Trust, Pield Heath Road, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3NN (map attached). Please report to the main hospital reception on arrival.

For your information I attach draft room layouts for the en-suite (two slightly different configurations), together with some explanatory notes. (Please note that the layout is still under development and these are draft only). We hope that you will be able to come along to view the en-suite. Your comments will be greatly appreciated and I am sure that you will find it very interesting.

To enable us to anticipate numbers please could you email Danielle Holme at danielle.holme@coi.gsi.gov.uk with an indication an approximate time that you will be attending.

Hillingdon Hospital Plan (PDF)

Single room en-suite bathroom: Room layout and explanatory notes

• Mock up layout (PDF)
• Draft layout of ensuite bathroom 1(PDF)
• Draft layout of ensuite bathroom 2 (PDF)

Please note that the above are draft layouts provided for reference only as they are not final.

Background to the project As part of the revision of HBN 4, the size of the en-suite bathroom is being reviewed to ensure that it complies with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. In order to meet space requirements for wheelchair manoeuvrability and manual handling requirements, under the conventional room layout, the space requirement is approximately 6.4m2. This represents an increase of approximately 2m2 per room from the current guidance of 4.5m2. With a move towards increasing numbers of single rooms in inpatient accommodation, this represents a significant increase in capital costs to a building project. The building note team wanted to consider whether an accessible en-suite could be reduced in size while still complying with the relevant legislation and other requirements.

Design development In order to assist with the revision of the building note, a consultation group of senior nurses and healthcare planners has been established. At a workshop in March 2005, the group agreed that space for dual assistance to the WC is the most important factor in an en-suite bathroom. Taking this into account the working group for the guidance developed options for redesigning the layout of the bathroom to enable utilisation of space within the bedroom for manoeuvring. This is achieved through the use of double opening doors, which can be folded right back to provide space for manoeuvring from the bedroom into the en-suite.

A full mock up of the new layout is being tested at the Hillingdon Hospital, Uxbridge. To date, we have carried our trials with a range of users including independent wheelchair users, people with differing mobility problems, and clinicians using moving and handling equipment. The results so far have been very positive. If we are able to take forward the design, it will be possible to keep the space requirement at approximately 4.5m2. The potential for significant savings on capital costs for new buildings is clear.