FEATURE ARTICLES

Juliet Erridge, an associate director at David Morley Architects, describes the context and background to the practice’s work to bring St Bernard’s Hospital, a low secure unit in Ealing which was originally the first purpose-built asylum to be completed in England and Wales, ‘into the 21st century’ for the West London Mental Health NHS Trust. She spoke about the redevelopment of the new medium secure campus at May’s Design in Mental Health 2015 conference with Barbara Wood, the Trust’s redevelopment programme manager (Service and Business Change).

In the opening keynote presentation at this year’s Design in Mental Health conference, John Short, chief executive of the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust – one of England’s largest mental healthcare providers – described his own professional experience of mental healthcare environments, and set out some key pointers on features and characteristics that can ‘make or break’ inpatient units, and have far-reaching impacts on both service-users and staff.

The 2015 Design in Mental Health Dinner & Awards were held at the National Motorcycle Museum on 19 May, during this year’s Design in Mental Health conference and exhibition. The evening provided a chance to relax, unwind, and make and renew contacts, and saw the presentation of the 2015 DIMH Awards. Guests were also treated to a thought-provoking after-dinner speech by author, campaigner, columnist, and mental health service-user, Clare Allan. The Network editor, Jonathan Baillie, reports.