LIGHTING
Delivering the right lighting where it’s needed
Whitecroft Lighting has been lighting UK healthcare for nearly 80 years, with Healthcare Sales director, Karen Bramman, at the forefront since 2001. Much has changed over two decades, and here she shares how Whitecroft tries to stay one step ahead of ‘a market in perpetual motion’.
Lighting healthcare has always required specialist knowledge and experience in order to meet client expectations, but when I look at the last five or so years, I’d argue that that these levels of specialism are increasing project-on-project, year- on-year. I believe these trends are being driven, and accelerated, by a number of different factors: some healthcare-specific, some technology-related, and others more pervasive to all industries – such as the rising cost of energy, and the drive for Net Zero.
In 2020, the NHS pledged to become Net
Zero carbon by 2040, and has launched a Green Plan outlining its expectations for carbon reduction and operational energy efficiency. There is a particular focus on reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions across the entire NHS estate by making sure companies across the supply chain embed sustainable practices into their plans and practices. There is also an increasing focus on the whole-life carbon impact of building materials, which includes embodied carbon – the emissions generated from the sourcing, manufacture, and transportation of products. This of course includes emissions linked to lighting and M&E – something that is driving Whitecroft Lighting to reimagine its products.
All change It has always been the responsibility of suppliers such as Whitecroft to not only keep up with complex new industry
demands and the pace of change, but also to ensure that they retain knowledge – recycling and refining best practice from project-to-project. This is what I see as being at the heart of becoming a specialist in any market. Take the impact of infection control, for example. Even for lighting specification, maintaining infection control is now critical, particularly as infections are becoming more resistant to cleaning agents, with COVID-19 understandably pushing this up the agenda. We are also seeing the demands on lighting being led by the needs of specialist units across the healthcare estate. For example, A&E lighting now has to be more robust to reflect the unpredictable demands of that space, while patients in dedicated mental health and dementia units are being considered as having long-term needs, so can no longer be managed by mainstream services. There’s no such thing as ‘one size fits all’.
Because each aspect of a specialist unit across the hospital estate is now geared towards its version of a patient’s assessment and recovery, manufacturers such as Whitecroft Lighting have to meet these demands head-on, and bring our own specialist knowledge for each environment.
Particular demands Compliance standards have also changed, such as around the need to reduce lighting glare for patient comfort, and
providing lighting to aid a specific task, and balancing this with an environment that aids patient recovery. This can only be achieved if products deliver light where it is needed for a clinical task, or for a patient to rest. NHS Trusts are also increasingly sensitive to the impact that lighting specification and design decisions have on ongoing energy use, and an increasing number are keen to use their knowledge to influence what is installed.
The four pillars of lighting Based on the direction of travel of the NHS and healthcare, Whitecroft has developed four strategic lighting pillars to guide its decision making: n Infection control All our lighting products are now built to withstand regular and rigorous cleaning regimes, and the application of stronger cleaning agents, chemical solutions, or gases.
n Design and compliance Achieving compliance and other performance targets means guaranteeing that correct lighting levels, uniformity, and glare limits are achieved, along with the colour temperature and rendition that aids treatment, and also care and recovery.
n User experience The links between lighting and wellbeing are now well established, with the right environment delivering visual comfort to staff, patients, and visitors, but crucially, also helping to put patients’ minds at rest and contributing to their recovery. The
Customised colour change lighting from Whitecroft’s Avenue Metro range adds a calming feel in an MRI room.
The links between lighting and wellbeing are now well established.
October 2022 Health Estate Journal 91
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