Issues identified by network
Discussion took place at the first meeting in February 2006. The meeting members
identified the following needs of those involved in designing mental health care settings:
- There was a need for support and advice on negotiation and working together at ward levels for
in patient settings.
- Complementary product catalogues need to be developed as well as a means of sharing details
of tried and tested products which might not necessarily be in the NHS catalogues.
- The group expressed a need to know how to influence policy and decision making as well as what
is available to buy under NHS regulations.
- Availability of Assistive Technology needs to be made clearer.
- Evidence Based information regarding design in mental health settings needs to be collated
and readily available. Currently this information has to be gleaned from more general information
and does not address specific mental health issues.
- Facilitation of good research needs to occur to inform decision making. Some suggestions were:
Noise Reduction (How to best design to reduce this). Designing to prevent falls. Elderly Services.
Nursing stations. Building for Observation.
- A need for those responsible for managing projects to be able to quickly access technology
and information from other professions.
- There is a need for information to be obtained quickly as designers and staff have to work
to very tight deadlines.
- A forum needs to be developed for deciding how to proceed and share knowledge.
- Long term evaluations need to be made which extends beyond the yearly evaluation post build.
- A need to be able to respond quickly to different local needs in terms of refurbishment and new builds.
It was commented that expectations of what people need from buildings have altered over the past
decade with environments changing rapidly and service delivery changes.
- A need to identify quickly when and where compromises can be made in refurbishments and new
buildings. The wrong decision at this time can lead to long term problems with buildings which need
to be rectified later – resulting in extra costs.
- The group also identified a need to manage expectations of the architects involved. How do we share
information and understand each others’ roles effectively?
- An understanding of how to manage projects was required. All clinicians present had been
responsible for new builds and refurbishments without any extra training in project management.
This leads to working in isolation.
- An understanding of effective service user participation in the process was required.
- There is a need to collate what training and learning is required for all people involved in designing
mental health care settings. This includes health professionals, clients, carers, designers, architects,
estates departments etc etc. How do we understand each other?
- There was a need for site visits to other projects to be developed within the network.
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