search.noResults

search.searching

dataCollection.invalidEmail
note.createNoteMessage

search.noResults

search.searching

orderForm.title

orderForm.productCode
orderForm.description
orderForm.quantity
orderForm.itemPrice
orderForm.price
orderForm.totalPrice
orderForm.deliveryDetails.billingAddress
orderForm.deliveryDetails.deliveryAddress
orderForm.noItems
ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN


New facility is integrated into its surroundings


Ruairi Reeves, a director at Medical Architecture, describes the practice’s work designing an impressive new Adult Acute and Eating Disorders inpatient unit, Blossom Court, at the St Ann’s Hospital site in Tottenham, which opened this Summer. The existing wards, in 1930s-built buildings, lacked privacy and dignity, and in the words of Andrew Wright, director of Planning and Partnerships at Barnet, Enfield and Haringey NHS Mental Trust, which runs the hospital, ‘the new facilities will mean that instead of having some of the worst wards in the country, Haringey patients and staff will have some the best’.


St Ann’s Hospital in Tottenham is owned by Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust, which provides a number of mental health services from the hospital to the local population. A number of other NHS organisations also provide services from the site. Over half of the hospital’s buildings had become vacant over time, following the rationalisation of the site to make it more effective and efficient. Maintaining this estate beyond the Trust’s requirements was diverting spending away from the provision of healthcare. As a result, the estate required urgent consolidation and modernisation.


Replacing outdated accommodation


Recent Care Quality Commission reports identified that the Trust’s existing inpatient facilities were no longer fit for purpose. The therapeutic environment on the wards was no longer appropriate for modern healthcare, and impacted on patients’ experience, with wider implications, such as staff retention. The existing wards were accommodated in two-storey buildings dating back to the 1930s. These were not designed for mental healthcare, and lacked privacy and dignity, with patients sharing bedrooms and bathrooms, and some day spaces were merely corridors. The quality of the environment was poor, with very limited internal space. The buildings’ linear plan and a central corridor created a long walking route from one end of the ward to the other, with little daylight or visual connection to the outside, and access to outdoor space was compromised throughout. The first floor ward had no direct access to outdoor space, while gardens on the ground floor were enclosed by a wire mesh fence that provided little privacy to patients.. The Trust required new accommodation for its inpatients; however it lacked the capital funds to afford this.


26


The main entrance. Capital funding


The Trust undertook an extensive patient and public engagement exercise, which concluded that the land now surplus to NHS requirements should be disposed of, in order to fund the redevelopment of the retained hospital campus. The public engagement programme focused on making the case for the disposal of the surplus part of the site for residential development, in order to fund the required healthcare improvements. Significant work was needed to address initial local public and political resistance to the proposed land sale, and to the initial limited proportion of affordable housing within the proposed housing development. Following extensive work, the Mayor of London purchased the site with a commitment to build at least 50 per cent affordable homes, including a number of


dedicated units available to the Trust to help with staff recruitment and retention.


The brief


The Trust required a new building comprising three Adult Acute wards each for 18 patients, and one Eating Disorders ward for 20 patients, with shared accommodation including visiting space, staff rest, and a multi-faith room. The design sought to optimise patient experience, and to ensure clinical effectiveness and efficiency. The building needed to be organised.


Masterplan


Developing a strategic vision We first looked at how the new impatient accommodation might fit into a cohesive new healthcare campus. It was important for us to promote permeability and


OCTOBER 2020 | THE NETWORK


©Tim Crocker


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36