Plan Magazine - The Recovery Lounge

9 September 10

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The Recovery Lounge
London industrial designers Priestmangoode have identified a way of showing how cost savings and greater efficiency in the UK health service can be achieved through clever design

Image: RL

The firm is proposing hospital wards modelled on health spas and beds like those in first class airline cabins in a new manifesto for health service design. Called The Health Manifesto, the report looks at how better design could help produce better, more efficient and more cost-effective environments for patient recovery. One idea is the Recovery Lounge – a ward where people can recover from minor operations that borrows ideas from the hotel and airline industries. The designers say that its clever design could help speed up patient turnaround times, improve cleanliness, take the strain off over-stretched nursing staff and ultimately help hospitals run faster and more effectively.

Image: RL2

Key features of the room include:
œ Staggered layout, much like those in First Class airline cabins, meaning more beds per sq/m and allowing nursing staff (like cabin staff) a clear line of sight to everyone, improving staff efficiency and cutting down the number of nurses required.
œ Individual private patient zones, designed to offer maximum comfort to the patient whilst incorporating clever design solutions to improve cleanliness and turnaround times for e.g. furniture floats above the floor to avoid dirt catching in hard to reach crevices and joints and corners are rounded off making them quicker and easier to clean (the designers did a time test to prove the significant amount of time saved cleaning round corners instead of square).
œ An adaptable bed inspired by airline seats and offering three positions (lie-flat, relaxed and upright) at the touch of a button so that patients can choose the position most comfortable for them, improving their sense of well-being and encouraging faster recovery.
œ A modular design allowing each zone to be manufactured off site, lowering production costs and allowing quick, easy installation in both new and existing hospitals.