DIMHN 2021 AGM
Coming months would see the DiMHN ‘continue to reach out to a number of NHS Trusts, designers, and main contractors, ‘to continue this adoption’.
Reporting on the International Workstream’s activities, Alex Caruso noted that ‘for the fifth year in a row’, the Network had seen an upward trend in the number of international memberships.
https://www.bregroup.com/services/ testing/mental-health-product-testing
Meetings with NHS Trusts The Testing & Innovation Workstream and BRE/DiMHN team members had also met with several NHS Trusts and main contractors to discuss how they can incorporate the testing into their projects – with, as Philip Ross put it, ‘everyone recognising the need for better testing with products still not performing as expected or desired in real life’. He said: “Through conversations we’ve realised that, to start – as clients, designers, and contractors – we can simply ask suppliers to provide their test evidence. This doesn’t require you to consider what risk grade you want to design to (as this might not be achievable), but it will allow you to see independent and repeatable evidence for how products will perform against the ligature, robustness, and other criteria.” This would ‘enable genuine and unbiased comparison for the first time’, with the NHS teams who generally make the final decision on product selection ‘able to show the full scope of evidence for an informed choice’.
Annual conference and exhibition Jonathan Campbell, who leads the Conference and Exhibition Workstream, explained that the 2021 DiMHN conference and exhibition, held from 24-25 August at the Coventry Building Society Arena, saw 442 visitors pre-register for the exhibition, with several ‘walk-ins’ on the day. Forty- seven organisations exhibited, 22 of them DiMHN members. A total of 92 delegates and 30 speakers attended the conference, with the programme covering topics including health and wellbeing, dementia, lived experience, art, design, and mental health, clinical design, ‘and many other subjects’. Jonathan Campbell noted that the quality and number of entries for the DiMHN’s 2021 awards had been ‘extremely high’. As reported in the October 2021 The Network, the awards were presented within the exhibition area at the end of the first day. While the conference will remain at the Coventry Building Society Arena for the next few years, the date will change to the second week in June. For 2022 the conference will be held on 7 and 8 June.
International Workstream Reporting on the International Workstream’s activities, its lead, Alex Caruso, was delighted that, ‘for the the fifth year in a row’, the Network had seen an upward trend in the number of International memberships (from 15 in 2017 to 38 in 2021) – which he said was ‘testament to the engagement work undertaken by the Board and Step Exhibitions to expand DIMHN membership globally, which acknowledges the value of the content shared on DIMHN platforms’. The collaboration with media, publishing, research, events, and training organisation, SALUS, had been strengthened by a new MoU agreement signed earlier in the year, and the DiMHN featured as Event Partner for the SALUS- organised European Healthcare Design Conference in June 2021, where Alex Caruso chaired a session titled ‘Designing
Lianne Knotts, a well-known healthcare architect and director at Medical Architecture, was among those involved in a major ‘refresh’ of the DiMHN website.
for custodial and mental health’, with contributions from the UK, the US, and Denmark. Members of the Workstream had also attended October’s Healthy City Design International Congress, again organised by SALUS.
At DiMH 2021 in Coventry, the International Workstream had hosted a session entitled ‘Designed in the USA’, with the speakers including Frank Pitts of New York-based Architecture +, and Tim Rommel, Mental healthcare leader for CannonDesign’s Health practice.
Research and Education Workstream Discussing the Research & Education Workstream’s activities, its lead, Professor Paula Reavey, explained that the team had worked on three projects this year – two books (the Borders and Boundaries booklet, and an ‘international evidence-gathering book’), and ‘negotiated an empirical project looking at transitioning from an older hospital site to a new facility in Greater Manchester’. She explained: “We have secured PhD funding for five years to be able to deliver on the latter project, which will be based at London South Bank University. The International Workstream will liaise with the Research and Education Workstream in producing a rapid evidence report on international design standards, as well as a book to be included in the existing series.”
Prof Reavey noted that the Borders and Boundaries booklet had been completed on schedule and launched at the August DiMH 2021 conference, together with a follow-up questionnaire aimed at feedback on the entire Design with People in Mind book series. A paper had also been also presented at the DiMH 2021 conference, outlining the book series’ ‘mission’.
Richard Hardy (left) of the BRE updates delegates at the DiMH 2021 conference on progress with the joint product testing scheme established by the research, consultancy, and testing organisation, and the Design in Mental Health Network.
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Invitation to sit on NHS committee Prof. Reavey had been invited to sit on the NHSE committee for improving secure
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