Designing Healing Environments

The demands on today’s healthcare facilities are vast. Healthcare facilities are expected to provide excellent patient care while simultaneously reducing operational costs, lowering their environmental footprint and working to humanise healthcare in a highly medicalised environment. They must evolve within a rapidly changing world, marked by technological innovation, an aging population, the rise of chronic diseases and an increased need for outpatient care.   

Hospital stays can be extremely stressful events for patients and their families, both physically and psychologically, and there are times when both patients and medical staff find themselves in situations of extreme vulnerability. Because of this, both work and stay conditions must be outstanding. Patients need to have complete trust in the quality of care provided and medical staff need to feel that their work environment was designed with their personal and professional needs considered.  

When designing the healing environments of tomorrow, it is essential to take a holistic approach, factoring in all these considerations.  

Studies show that well-designed environments can have a profound impact on a patient’s experience, accelerating recovery and promoting wellbeing, but they also deliver economic benefits through cost savings that come from improving patient outcomes and reducing their length of stay, boosting staff productivity, and attracting and retaining talent.  

Our Healthcare blog is dedicated to a breakdown of the key challenges facing Healthcare and essential elements for designing safe, calming, sustainable and efficient healthcare environments where people can thrive.

Over the course of this blog series, we will take a closer look at the following topics:  

	The Psychology of Colour
	Intuitive Wayfinding
	Infection Prevention and Control
	The Right to Rest
	The Importance of Noise Control
	Sustainable Healthcare Design

To find out more about our Healthcare Solutions for all Areas click here. 

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