LIGHTING SYSTEMS
Mental health lighting – an evolution in design
Whitecroft Lighting has been lighting UK mental healthcare facilities for a generation, with Karen Bramman at the forefront since 2001. Much has changed since the company’s first mental health project in 1998, and in this article she explains how Whitecroft endeavours to stay one step ahead of a market in ‘perpetual motion’, drawing on a recent project at Peterborough City Hospital to illustrate the company’s expertise, and its ability to tailor its products to specialist settings.
Lighting healthcare has always required specialist knowledge and experience to meet client expectations, but I would argue that the unique combination of technical and clinical challenges often make lighting mental healthcare the most demanding. These challenges are influenced by a number of factors – some specific to the needs of mental health service-users and staff, some technology- related, and others more pervasive to wider healthcare and 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 in October that year NHS England launched its Delivering a ‘Net Zero’ National Health Service report, which, outlined its expectations for carbon reduction and energy operational efficiency. As NHS England put it, ‘This report provides a detailed account of the NHS’s modelling and analytics underpinning the latest NHS carbon footprint, trajectories to net zero, and the interventions required to achieve
that ambition. It lays out the direction, scale, and pace of change. It describes an iterative and adaptive approach, which will periodically review progress, and aims to increase the level of ambition over time.’
Scope 1 and 2 emissions There is a particular focus on reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions across the NHS’s entire estate by making sure that 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, mechanical, and electrical (M&E) – a factor that is driving Whitecroft Lighting to reimagine its products.
All change in health and mental health For Whitecroft to keep up with complex
new industry demands and the pace of change we must retain knowledge and recycle and refine 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 this 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 led by the needs of specialist units across the healthcare estate, and mental health and dementia service-users are considered as having long-term needs, so can no longer be managed by mainstream services. There is no such thing as ‘one size fits all’. Each aspect of a specialist unit across a hospital’s estate is geared towards a version of a patient’s assessment and recovery, and manufacturers like us must meet these demands head-on, and bring our own specialist knowledge to each environment. Compliance standards have also changed, such as the need to reduce lighting glare for patient comfort, and to provide lighting to aid a specific task, while balancing this with an environment that aids patient recovery.
A changing timeline The timeline of how lighting has changed for mental health environments over the years is the story of how design has evolved (and continues to evolve) to the needs of service-users and healthcare professionals. My first mental healthcare lighting project for Whitecroft was almost 25 years ago in Derby, and our level of understanding of the importance of lighting hardware and software for service- users has developed beyond recognition since that time. When I compare Derby to one of our
Peterborough City Hospital – where as part of the Centre’s ‘natural lifecycling’ process, Whitecroft recently upgraded the emergency lighting systems within the Mental Health and Integrated Care Centre, and completed its conversion to low-energy LED lighting.
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most recent projects at Peterborough City Hospital mental health unit, I see the culmination of two decades of clinical research and feedback – plus the knowledge and innovation accumulated
FEBRUARY 2023 | THE NETWORK
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