FEATURE ARTICLES

Max Szczerkowski, Product Design engineer at Safehinge Primera, explains the background to, and thinking behind, the launch of what the company says is ‘the ultimate electronic lockset’ for mental healthcare bedrooms.

Teva Hesse, Design director at 4D Studio Architects, explores whether ‘designing out risk’ in inpatient mental healthcare facilities means service-users having little to do, and suggests giving them greater individual empowerment to engage in meaningful pursuits.

The University of Dublin’s Harry Kennedy had substantial input into the design of the country’s new National Forensic Mental Health Service Hospital in Portrane, and here discusses his thinking on optimal forensic mental healthcare

Presenting jointly on the opening morning of June’s Design in Mental Health 2023 Conference, Dr Stephen Dye, a consultant psychiatrist, and one of his former patients, Bernard Fox – now a committed campaigner for better mental healthcare environments, discussed ‘Physical environments of PICUs from the patient perspective’.

A heartfelt plea for support for suicide prevention charity, Maytree, and a virtuoso violinist, preceded the presentation of nine Design in Mental Health Awards during the DiMHN’s 2023 well-attended annual conference and exhibition in Coventry in June.

A welcoming and aesthetically pleasing environment plays a crucial role in supporting service-user well-being.

Furniture manufacturer, Pineapple Contracts, discusses the NHS’s Net Zero targets that mean suppliers will soon be required to demonstrate their carbon reduction activities.

New drinking taps from Hotspot Titanium are designed to give staff and service-users safe, rapid access to hot and cold filtered water, helping foster greater independence.

Fleet Architects’ director, Jaime Bishop, and associate architect, Kai Xin Tan, explain how the practice has ‘reimagined respite care’ for young people with disabilities in Northampton, producing a unified design concept for the short breaks service at the John Greenwood Shipman Centre in Northampton on behalf of Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

Polar NE discusses its recent positive experience having one of its windows ‘pre-tested’ to the BRE and DiMHN’s Informed Choices standard test criteria.

BioClad, an IPS unit and hygienic and antimicrobial cladding maker, has established its first in-house IPS manufacturing unit, as its looks to move into acute mental healthcare.

A look by three BRE staff at the new BRE / DiMHN Informed Choices product testing standard and associated certification scheme, and what the process involves.

Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust’s new Highgate East inpatient facility will provide first-class, 21st century mental healthcare for adults across North Central London

Whitecroft Lighting has been lighting UK mental healthcare facilities for a generation, and endeavours to stay one step ahead of a market in ‘perpetual motion’.

Ratio arkitekter reports on a ground-breaking and award-winning new high security mental healthcare facility in a striking setting in Trondheim in northern Norway

Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is co-designing its ambitious new mental health facilities with service-users and clinical staff. The team behind ‘Making Room for Dignity’ reports on the plans for new inpatient facilities, and the progress made to date.

Ireland’s new National Forensic Mental Health Service Hospital exploits the therapeutic value of nature ‘in a discreetly secure setting which promotes the recovery of patients’

The DiMHN’s first ever CEO is a former service-user who has worked with mental healthcare providers, and has delivered both peer worker support and co-production training – Hannah Chamberlain recently spoke to The Network’s editor

The DiMHN’s 2022 AGM, held ‘virtually’ in November, saw reports on the previous 12 months, including a highly successful conference and exhibition, a new Lived Experience Advisory Panel, and the DiMHN’s first full-time salaried employee, a new Chief Executive.

The award-winning redevelopment of an unused site in Wesham has created a modern new rehabilitation facility for Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust.