FLOORING


Designing for recovery How modern flooring solutions are helping to enhance mental health and dementia care settings


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he physical environment of a hospital or care home is vitally important to recovery, with everything from flooring choice to acoustics and interior design playing a part in


the overall experience of staff, patients and visitors. But this is even more important in mental health and dementia care facilities, which house some of the most- vulnerable people in society. Flooring specification is informed primarily by Health Building Note 03-01 – Adult acute mental health units. It states that a thorough risk assessment should be carried


out before a floor covering is chosen. This process should, it says, take into account key drivers such as infection control and safety, but should also address


mhdf magazine


the need to create a comfortable living environment for service users which ‘maximises the opportunities for normalisation and a domestic-type environment’. The guidance adds: “In general, all flooring [for mental health units], and flooring fittings such as expansion strips, should be specified, manufactured, fitted and maintained to help prevent the possibility of accidents, misuse or use as weapons or to aid self harm.” Sharron Kapellar, national framework manager at Forbo


Flooring Systems, told hdm: “Mental health is a prominent topic in the industry and manufacturers need to be aware of the floor coverings in their portfolio that are suitable for the challenges that arise within such establishments.


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