FEATURE ARTICLES

Andrea Harman, Concept developer for Healthcare for Saint-Gobain Ecophon, discusses some of the key considerations and steps to create a quieter, more calming, recovery environment for service-users in mental healthcare settings, and some of the things to avoid

Highly experienced architect, and founder of IBI TH!NK, Richard Mazuch, argues that architects, designers, and planners, need to tailor their thinking on the optimal living and care environments to the needs and wants of the so-called ‘Baby Boomer’ generation.

David Bradley, CEO of the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, explains the design principles behind the Pears Maudsley Centre for Children and Young People, which is set to open in London in 2023.

In a joint DiMH 2022 Conference address in June, two leading academics – from London South Bank University, and Nottingham Trent University – discussed a study examining the impact of the environment on service-users during de-escalation and seclusion.

Service-users’ lived experience in mental healthcare facilities can provide valuable insights. At June’s DiMH conference, Nick Smith, who spent a lengthy period as an inpatient at Bradford’s Lynfield Mount Hospital, reflected on some of his most challenging times.

The first evening of June’s Design in Mental Health 2022 event in Coventry saw 12 Design in Mental Health 2022 Awards presented – recognising excellence in categories ranging from Outside Space of the Year and Concept Product Innovation to Service-User Engagement and Estates and Facilities Team of the Year.

Giving a first day keynote presentation at June’s Design in Mental Health 2022 conference, Sarah Hughes, CEO of the Centre for Mental Health, discussed what she argued were some of the key priorities for designing a mental health system that offered equality of access to all, and some of the major barriers that need overcoming to achieve this.

Allan Aikman, Product (Design) manager at Pinpoint, a specialist provider of staff personal alarm systems, describes how the company provided ‘a 100 per cent reliable, easy-to-use’ such system for St George’s Hospital, the main treatment centre for acute mental health issues in South Staffordshire.

Jason Brown, director of Design and Development at Knightsbridge Furniture, takes a look at some of the key considerations – including the challenge of balancing appealing aesthetics and a therapeutic, non-institutional feel with safety and security – when designing and manufacturing furniture for mental healthcare settings.

Robin Graham, an associate director at Gilling Dod Architects, describes the practice’s design of Park House – a new inpatient mental health facility at North Manchester General Hospital that will replace one of the largest remaining dormitory-based such units in the UK, and will also be one of the first multi-level mental health units with roof gardens in the north of England.

Philip Verner explains how CEM Systems can help mental healthcare facilities maintain a ‘zero-risk strategy’ to protecting staff, service-users, & visitors, by providing absolute control as to who can go where and when, within their building or sites

James Christian, an architect and director, and Creative strategist and director, Megan Charnley, report on the practice’s design of the interior of the CAMHS unit at Edinburgh’s new Royal Hospital for Children and Young People.

The Design in Mental Health Network has always recognised the value of hearing from serviceusers on their experiences in a variety of mental healthcare settings – something reflected in a number of presentations at last August’s DiMH 2021 conference

The Design in Mental Health Network’s 2021 AGM, held ‘virtually’ on 3 November, saw reports presented by Chair, Philip Ross, and Treasurer, Phil Barsby, as well as the leads of the DiMHN’s various Workstreams

Mark Carter, Partner, and Victor Muniz, Architectural director at the firm, explain the planned consolidation of the new facility, and their approach to 21st-century mental health design.

In November last year, construction started on the £60 m redevelopment of the medium secure service provision at Northgate Hospital in Morpeth, Northumberland.

A new Design in Mental Health Network guide to designing ‘with borders and boundaries in mind’ was unveiled on the first day of August’s DiMH 2021 conference at the Coventry Building Society Arena.

August’s Design in Mental Health 2021 conference and exhibition in Coventry saw the presentation of ten DiMH 2021 awards recognising outstanding achievement, creativity, and innovation.

Speaking at the DiMH 2021 conference, Jane Ray, head of Hospital Inspections at the CQC, gave an insight into the CQC’s role in the mental health arena, and a service-user described her difficult experience as a as an inpatient

Within a mental health facility, designing or upgrading system infrastructure is a challenge – fire alarms systems being no exception