Hospitals as Healthy Workplaces
““Healthcare staff work in a high-octane environment and so need time away from the ‘coalface’ to rest and recuperate.””
Currently healthcare settings in the UK are estimated to lose 4.8 million working days in human health and social work due to workplace injury or work-related illness; a significant proportion of which are matters of mental health.
We know that healthcare workplace environments are intense and complex spaces with staff navigating both physical and psycho-social experiences, often over long, intense shifts. Compounding the pressure on hospitals, many European countries face the real challenge of existing and projected staff shortages. Demographic changes expected in the coming decades mean that labour markets will experience increased competition for talent. Looking forward, it becomes evident that careful investment in experienced hospital design teams will become a human resource imperative when factoring the wellbeing of both staff and patients.
Innovative and exemplar hospital design requires collaboration with healthcare staff, bringing valuable insights from day-to-day lived experiences. We spoke with Ashok Handa, Consultant Vascular Surgeon at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust about the need for improved design strategies in hospital workplaces. He commented:
"It’s important to pay attention to the design and planning of dedicated staff areas. They need to be both adjacent to clinical areas as well as some away from the immediate workplace. If you are a nurse on a busy ward on a 12-hour shift, you need a quiet and calm place for a break from the constant calls, bells and alarms and relatives but close to or on the ward."
So, how can designers create future-ready, agile and healthy hospital workplaces that meet the needs of everyone from medical staff on long shifts to porters walking several miles a day. The key lies in design and technology detail:
creating back-office and break-out/rest areas that facilitate a nervous system reset.
spatial planning that affords both privacy and solitude, away from the busy footfall as well as space for essential team collaboration.
design to enhance acoustic performance and the integration of noise absorbent materials to offset alarm fatigue in clinical spaces whilst maintaining clinical & infection control standards.
adjustable or zoned lighting technology that supports the natural circadian rhythms of staff working various shifts.
technology that allows digital customisation of walls/rooms to suit differing events or needs.
During the pandemic we all became much more aware of the immense pressure that hospitals and their staff are under. It was a wakeup call to look again at hospitals as not only health centres but ‘workplaces’, and to rethink how we design for those who provide frontline care.
At the same time, the pandemic provided a huge opportunity to completely rethink healthcare provision. Restrictions meant a step change in the use of artificial intelligence, tele-healthcare and the numbers of both patients and staff connecting remotely. This radical review of the way we interface with healthcare has big implications for the future of hospital design. More so now, designers are working with clinicians to rethink overall capacity & functionality, ensuring the flexibility, resilience, and futureproofing of all spaces.
Venessa Hermantes, Director of HERMANTES STUDIO commented,
“Based on our recent collaboration on innovative new hospital designs for Our Hospital, Jersey and redevelopment works at UCLH, Central London, we are increasingly having design discussions around maximising staff wellbeing and flexible, future-proofed facilities for our clients’ workforces.
This was rarely discussed or embraced by client teams in previous years with these key areas seen as ‘back-of-house’ amongst these large hospital layouts with design & spending priorities being on patient-focused spaces. The whole focus on wellbeing for everyone is changing how we approach hospital design in exciting new ways. Wellbeing in ALL workplace sectors should be high on everyone’s agenda.
Aspirational, high-quality and therapeutic staff environments should ensure people can thrive in their workplace and are essential for the future of healthcare. More than ever before it’s about creating human-centric environments, retaining exceptional talent and ensuring staff can perform their roles effectively whilst feeling supported and empowered.”
Established knowledge tells us that poor work environments have a direct influence on productivity and wellness. The specific quality of a place directly affects its organizational functionality, individual workers’ satisfaction, work life balance and the overall culture. In a healthcare setting this can lead to stress, absenteeism, high levels of staff turnover, even medical errors. Ultimately these factors can compromise the overall quality of care.
In contrast, a carefully designed and supportive workplace can be described as an environment that attracts individuals into the health professions, encourages them to remain in the workforce and enables them to perform well and enjoy their role. Something that is fast being recognised by policy makers and commissioners. In late 2021 the NHS released its updated ‘NHS health and wellbeing framework’ a high-level culture change toolkit aimed at the wellbeing of staff. It identified the working environment as a core factor citing that staff ‘need an environment in which there is not only an absence of harmful conditions that can cause injury and illness but one that supports healthy choices and offers resources to actively encourage healthy behaviour.’
While some aspects of modern life have changed forever, others continue to undergo rapid advances that will see them unrecognisable by 2030. This is certainly the case with healthcare delivery.
The role of specialist design teams working on hospitals will be to synthesise as much incoming research as possible and shape this understanding into future-ready, destination workplaces where the wellbeing and comfort of both staff and patients is encoded into the fabric of the building.