LIGHTING
An insight into healthcare lighting
Business development manager and founder of MWILLUMITECH Training Martyn Whittaker (MIHEEM) discusses general lighting principles for some of the particular challenges currently facing healthcare environments.
With the current economic climate constantly adding pressure to budgets, it is more important than ever that the principles of healthcare lighting are not compromised and requirements not overlooked, as this can impact on the quality of care. As an engineer who has provided lighting solutions for
healthcare projects amongst many others over a number of years, I thought it would be of interest to share my thoughts and experiences, assisting to avoid some of the pitfalls. It is my belief that things should be kept simple, so please do not be insulted if I oversimplify or cover ground you are already aware of – I trust you will find this article of value. Before I start, it will be beneficial to have an
understanding and knowledge of some of the ways light is measured and the terminology used. This will help avoid any future confusion and will assist in product selection at an early stage in the design process. These terms are common throughout lighting in general.
General and common terminology n Watt – a unit of power consumed to generate light;
however, consideration should be given that some of this power will be consumed and dissipated as heat it is used in the calculation to measure the efficiency of a luminaire (see luminaire lumens per circuit watt).
n Lumen – the measure of the light produced by a light source; however, this may not make allowance for any losses in the luminaire and materials used in its manufacture.
n Luminaire lumens – the measure of light produced by a luminaire. This will often make allowance for any losses in the luminaire and materials used in its manufacture, and is often considered the ‘usable figure’.
n Lux – this is a measure of light falling on a working plain or task area, and the desired levels can be set when defining the location and the task being performed in the space – this may be a small area within the location (also defined as Lumens per square meter). This is detailed in table format in the early sections of LG2 (Lighting Guide 2: Hospitals and health care buildings).
n Luminaire lumens per circuit watt – the measure of the efficiency of a luminaire; put simply, the luminaire lumens produced / watts consumed, giving a figure you can use to compare luminaires for efficiency with a common factor. For example, if a luminaire consumes 10 watts and produces 1000 luminaire lumens, then it may be quoted as 100 luminaire lumens per circuit watt.
n Colour temperature – this is a numerical value that defines how warm or cool the light appears in an environment, as measured in Kelvin (K). The lower the
number, the warmer the appearance this can be. This is important when we want to create a more relaxed or welcoming environment, for example in a rest environment or relatives areas (3000K); however, in clinical settings we would select the higher numbers in order to provide the best environment (4000k). In the natural world, the colour temperature is known to change as we move through the day; it is often referred to as ‘aligning’ with the body’s circadian rhythms.
n Colour rendering Index (CRI) – this is a measure of a light source’s ability to revel an object’s true colour compared to natural sunlight. A CRI>80 is fine for normal situations; however, as we move into more specialised areas, given the importance of skin tone recognition and the visual appearance of tissue conditions, it is important we include the red (R9) value in the scale and also get the best visual indication – which is best achieved by the use of CRI>90. There is often confusion between colour temperature and CRI. This can be explained thus: colour temperature is about creating an environment, whereas CRI is about how accurately we see the colour of things in that environment in relationship to natural sunlight. So, colour temperature can be used to create a warm, welcoming, relaxed environment (i.e. compare your residential space (3000k) to a working environment (4000k), while the CRI will assist you when performing a task that requires excellent colour to be visible. Images of fruit bowls are often used to demonstrate where a selection of colours are shown and how they vary with different CRI values.
October 2026 Health Estate Journal 109
For an operating theatre, the required lux levels are clear.
AdobeStock / Vadim
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