At the heart of the Government’s Cost Reduction Programme is a focus on providing better and more cost-effective healthcare facilities.
Building on the success already seen in acute bedrooms and out-patient consult / exam rooms (now being adopted by three NHS Trusts), the ProCure21+ PSCPs spent much of 2014 developing Repeatable Room arrangements for mental health services.
David Kershaw, ProCure 21+ programme director for PSCPs, explained: “Starting with a research review in association with the Medical Architecture Research Unit (MARU) at London South Bank University, the development process was extended to include structured interviews with volunteer Trusts. Three different service-user groups were then consulted. The third input was an experience base convened from national and international projects. Initial proposals were presented to two expert panels, including clinicians, academics, service-users, Trusts, designers, healthcare planners, and Royal Colleges, before being subjected to operational and functional tests.
“Final proposals, comprising a bedroom with an en suite adjacent to the internal corridor for functional mental health conditions, and two organic mental health equivalents with the en suite ‘corridor side’ – and a nested or parallel arrangement of the en suites – were then presented to a Technical Panel.
“We believe the organic mental health bedroom arrangement might also suit a forensic service. If widely adopted, Trusts would have greater ability to respond to changing acuity levels without a change in bed space numbers, while simultaneously reducing capital investment.”
The team has also been working to extend the existing selection of standard components for repeatable rooms to include components suitable for the mental health environment. A launch is planned within the next few months.
