NEWS COVER STORY


Mental health construction has evolved NETWORK


Over the last decade, mental health construction has seen a remarkable transformation, with innovative new approaches making facilities safer, more comfortable, and tailored to individual needs. From anti-ligature measures to personalised bedrooms, the focus has shifted towards providing patient-centred care in a calming, supportive environment. Darwin Group says a key driver has been the increased use of technology – ‘from advanced monitoring systems to assistance technology like hearing loops and visual aids’ – enabling staff to monitor patients more effectively and provide tailored support. The ‘next exciting phase of this evolution is already underway’. Pioneered by collaboration between Darwin Group, Safehinge Primera, and Medical Architecture, and supported by specialist suppliers, Modern Methods of Construction are ready to further


www.dimhn.org FC NET May23.indd 1 Journal of the Design in Mental Health Network Coventry event’s highlights in focus


Helping specifiers make ‘informed choices’ Highgate East facility’s extensive co-design


enhance mental health accommodation. Darwin Group is committed to using MMC to deliver facilities 60% faster than via traditional construction, with improved quality due to complete control over the design, manufacturing, installation, and fit-out processes. These facilities are designed to last a minimum of 60 years, with wall structures that exceed the ‘Severe Duty’ rating for hard and soft body impact. Via BREEAM and PassivHaus principles, and reducing waste to less than 1%, they will also support the NHS Net Zero carbon goals. Darwin Group said: “With MMC set to push the boundaries even further, the future of mental health accommodation looks brighter than ever.”


May 2023 25/04/2023 14:27


Darwin Group, Level 3 – 4 Telford Plaza, One Ironmasters Way, Telford TF3 4NB www.darwingroupltd.co.uk T: 0333 188 5113


E: marketing@darwingroupltd.co.uk


Major study will ‘highlight patient voices in healthcare research and practice’


A ‘major’ new six-year study will use philosophical expertise to help bring patient voices into healthcare research and practice. Researchers at the University of Nottingham, University of Bristol, and University of Birmingham, have received a £2.6 m Wellcome Discovery Grant for the ‘Epistemic Injustice in Healthcare (EPIC)’ project. The researchers said: “Patients regularly report that their testimonies and perspectives are ignored, dismissed, or explained away by the healthcare profession. These experiences are injustices, because they are unfair and harmful – and philosophers call them ‘epistemic injustices’, because they jeopardise patient care and undermine trust in healthcare staff and systems.” By studying these ‘injustices’, EPIC will


‘find ways to correct them, and improve the relationship between patients and healthcare


practitioners’. The EPIC team has internationally recognised expertise in philosophy, psychiatry, and law. Principal Investigator, Professor Havi Carel, from the University of Bristol, is an authority on philosophy and phenomenology of illness. EPIC will provide the first systematic study of epistemic injustice across a range of healthcare settings,


and the first with empirical studies showing how and when it appears. Professor Carel (pictured) will be joined by


fellow Bristol academic, Professor Sheelagh McGuinness, an authority on health, gender, and the law, while Dr Ian James Kidd, Assistant Professor in Philosophy, will lead the research at the University of Nottingham. The University of Birmingham team is led


by Professor Lisa Bortolotti, a philosopher of psychiatry, and editor of the Philosophical Psychology journal, and Professor Matthew


CoWin Play ‘media wall’ introduced


Recornect says its latest product – the CoWin Play ‘media wall’ (see photo) – is ‘a balanced mix of interaction, education, relaxation, and home automation, especially for medium risk mental health wards’. The company said: “CoWin Play was


developed in response to a significant demand from healthcare facilities to apply our unique work dynamic to medium-risk wards, in a lighter hardware configuration. Via a close collaboration with one of our UK customers, we applied the power of GRASP (software) within a rigid hardware enclosure, with a finish designed for a


THE NETWORK | MAY 2023


lower risk level. Due to its versatility and affordability, the CoWin Play is accessible and widely deployable in various healthcare facilities.” Highlights of CoWin Play and GRASP include: a 32 in HD screen, in landscape orientation; a built-in camera, microphone, and speakers; four colours: Lava, Light Grey, Sand Beige, and Powderwhite; an 8.7 mm laminated glass option; can be built into new or existing furniture; video and communication between client and care staff or family;


document exchange; personal profiles – with additional apps such as TV, music, video, or games; home automation applications such as operating lighting; user profiles for care


staff, and firmware updates via ‘the cloud’. Recornect added: “GRASP offers a


ground-breaking software translation of a powerful work dynamic between client and care staff with which we are achieving very encouraging results worldwide in both client recovery and reduction of workload on wards.”


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Broome, an academic NHS psychiatrist and director of the Birmingham Institute for Mental Health. Professor Bortolotti said: “It is especially important for people with a mental health diagnosis to contribute to shared knowledge concerning their symptoms and treatment. This study will challenge the assumption that they are irrational or disconnected from reality, and so not worthy of being listened to.” The researchers say patients ‘have long


reported feeling ignored, dismissed, or silenced in ways that jeopardise their care and intensify their suffering’. The EPIC team will be completed


by eight postdoctoral researchers and other researchers and collaborators from Swansea, City, and Aston Universities, and the Universities of Bologna and Ferrara in Italy. The six case studies that form part of the research will focus on labour pain, child mental health, neurodiversity, cancer, depression, and later-life care.


THE


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