WAYFINDING
Wayfinding audits to identify safety risks are not a ‘nice to have’ or a ‘will do later’ task – they are essential for keeping people safe and for risk reduction at your sites.
n Digital parking systems with routes to relocate your car. n Real-time bus information and routes to find the right bus stop.
n Personalised real-time wayfinding information.
Five quick wins to improve wayfinding at your site n Ask your staff how much time they spend directing
people, and what can be done to make wayfinding easier at your sites.
places a Trust needs to help staff and service users to find. For many, finding a clinic in their local community will be easier and quicker than a large hospital site. However, people who do not read their pre-visit information closely, or have not lived locally for long, may go to the wrong site, or may find wayfinding becomes more difficult. If your community-based reception desk staff record for a week or two how many people got confused, miss their appointments, or arrive late because of wayfinding issues, you will assess the scale of the problem for your site users. The results may be surprising. The hidden costs may be significant or acceptable. The data will help you identify problems and priorities.
Dr Colette Jeffrey
Dr Colette Jeffrey is an experienced hospital wayfinding problem solver, and founder of a wayfinding design consultancy, Copper Jetty. She specialises in identifying navigation problems and solutions in the most complex built environments. Currently working with hospitals and universities, past clients include Wembley Arena, Tower Bridge, and The British Library. An Associate Professor of Wayfinding and Inclusive Design at Birmingham City University until 2025, and a Wayfinding Design Director at global brand design agencies for over 15 years, Dr Jeffrey audits sites, consults stakeholders, plans surveys, develops strategies, facilitates workshops, and designs information solutions.
Analogue to digital – what are the wayfinding solutions? The NHS moving from analogue to digital makes sense financially and environmentally. Providing wayfinding information in digital formats is potentially more flexible, accessible, and inclusive. However, people without digital devices or the skills to access the digital wayfinding information will continue to need printed information. These service users will be excluded by a digital-only system.
A trial of a digital wayfinding solution took place at
Leicester General Hospital in 2024. The study tested the solution in four areas of the hospital. The report on NHS England’s Digital webpages concludes: “The solution is currently not able to identify individual users to track their live location to inform the blue dot [showing your location] capability. Potential fixes have been explored but have raised additional issues around data security and server space. At the conclusion of the trial this issue had not been resolved.”
Indoor navigation systems need very accurate positioning of the navigator, and a reliable network that stays connected without signal delays. Otherwise the navigator will have moved, making the guidance of little use. Technology, AI, and digital innovations are progressing at an unprecedented speed. No doubt there will soon be new digital solutions and reliable indoor data networks making systems more reliable, useful, affordable, and accessible.
Hybrid navigation solutions combining physical and digital Personalised multi-platform, digital, and physical solutions offer the most inclusivity and flexibility for wayfinding. Physical signs remain essential but increasingly work alongside digital tools. Possible future solutions include: n QR-codes on physical information could be scanned to show your position and the best route to follow.
n Interactive digital maps with a line or audio cues to follow.
n Apps within the NHS App with indoor navigation functions.
n Appointment emails with links to navigation apps. 44 Health Estate Journal October 2026
n Train your reception staff, volunteers, and porters to give clear directions – they are a crucial part of your wayfinding system. Ask what resources would help them direct people more easily.
n Create describable landmarks at key decision points and junctions along your main corridors. They need to be distinct and easy to recognise – they can be anything! Ask staff to use these new landmarks when giving directions.
n Check your hospital postcode(s), street name(s), and online maps – do they guide people to appropriate locations at your site? Change them if needed.
n Make your external building entrances distinct, with large signs at eye level and visible from all approaches.
Wayfinding failure has direct operational consequences so act now Getting lost impacts safety, security, compliance, risk, and site-user satisfaction. Improving your wayfinding system will reduce: n Staff time spent giving directions. n Late or missed appointments. n Patient anxiety and staff frustration. n Disrupted clinic schedules. n Staff interruptions from lost people.
The benefits are clear: n Improved patient experience and satisfaction. n Reduced staff disruptions. n Greater operational efficiency. n Enhanced safety. n Reduced risk of getting lost.
Measure the scale of your current problems by monitoring the number of: n People asking for directions at key junctions. n Reception desk interruptions. n Missed appointments due to navigation failures. n Complaints received by PALS about getting lost.
Done well, wayfinding is almost invisible. Done poorly, it affects everything. Most importantly, better wayfinding systems ensure that people feel welcome and can navigate healthcare environments, regardless of their ability, and with confidence and dignity. In today’s NHS hospitals, solving your wayfinding problems is not ‘something we will do when we have some spare budget’ but an essential, caring, and kind task to start now.
Further reading n Insights section –
www.copperjetty.com n NHS Wayfinding Guidance for Healthcare Facilities – download free NHS England website
n The Wayfinding Handbook – David Gibson n Wayfinding: People, Signs and Architecture – Paul Arthur & Romedi Passini
n Wayshowing > Wayfinding – Per Mollerup n Design That Cares – Janet Carpman & Myron Grant
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