Designing better mental healthcare facilities

A case for post-occupancy evaluation

Mental Health lead at architectural and design practice, IBI Group, Wendy de Silva, has questioned why Post-Occupancy Evaluations (POEs) are not more commonplace, and called for the mental health sector ‘to join the dots’ and develop a forum in which the results of POEs can be shared.

The architect, who will speak on the subject at Design in Mental Health 2018 (see pages 17-26), said: “Up to this point, there has been no systemic way to measure outputs and share information on mental health buildings. For networks like DIMHN, such a resource would surely help like-minded individuals to push boundaries and deliver best practice.” She points out that ‘there are a number of bodies that advocate feedback’, explaining: “For example, the Government Soft Landings programme requires measures of success to be defined, and actual performance to be measured against planned measures, while ProCure21+ and ProCure22 have developed a new ‘toolkit’ which aims to capture measures the built environment can influence and support. 

“This includes a comprehensive four-page dashboard that captures the physical environment, functional content, activity levels, functionality, and effectiveness of a building. 

“The Mitford Unit in Morpeth will be one of the first projects to benefit from the insightful feedback from this toolkit. The ProCure22 toolkit also incorporates a section that captures project-specific Benefits Realisation Plans. For example, the Plan developed for Woodland View, a 206-bed mental health unit in Irvine, Scotland (pictured), reported on SMART outcomes (specific, measureable, achievable, realistic, timely), measured a year after the facility opened. Ten headline benefits were identified – including strategic and clinical outcomes, reducing stigma, delivering future flexibility and functionality, and a safer working and clinical environment. Overall these posted very positive results. Interestingly, one area of innovation – a shared resource area – was not being fully utilised. Spotlighting such issues enables Trusts to investigate the causes, and make adjustments to improve health outcomes.”

 

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