Conference will address most talked-about issues

The 2019 Design in Mental Health conference, exhibition, and dinner is now just over a month away. Following our comprehensive conference preview in the January 2019 of The Network, here we focus on some of the conference highlights, include the conference programme, and feature some of the exciting products and services set to be shown in this year’s exhibition. Many will be new, and designed specifically to meet the challenges that estates directors and clinicians, working in mental healthcare settings with responsibility for specification, face.

Taking place at a new, larger venue, Coventry’s Ricoh Arena, DiMH 2019 will be held from 21-22 May, and promises to be as lively, engaging, and informative as ever. A conference addressing some of the most talked-about issues in the design, construction, fitting out, and operation of mental healthcare facilities will see keynote speeches given by former Minister of State for Care and Support and Liberal Democrat MP, Norman Lamb, who has made equality between physical and mental healthcare a personal crusade, and Simon Corben, director and head of Profession, NHS Estates and Facilities, at NHS Improvement. The broad range of topics discussed over the conference’s two days will range from the design of safe and effective seclusion spaces, and a look at the particular needs of children and other young service-users with mental health issues, to the DiMHN’s and BRE’s ongoing development of ‘standard’ test methods for products used in mental health settings (see also page 5), and the importance and therapeutic value and impact of green spaces. 

Hear from former Minister