How to make hospice refurbishments easier

Hospice refurbishments are an important aspect of maintaining and enhancing a comfortable and supportive environment for patients and their families, as well as hospice staff.

However, they can also be a daunting task for hospice managers, who are responsible for overseeing the project.

To help make things easier, we’ve put together some top tips on how to make hospice refurbishments a less stressful and costly process, whilst ensuring minimal disruption to patient care.

 

1)    Planning

 

Before embarking on any refurbishment project, it is important to plan ahead. Often these projects are large in scale, involving full furniture and equipment fit outs that need to fulfill the needs of your hospice, without going over budget. That’s why it is important to involve the relevant stakeholders such as patients, families and staff in the planning process.

Not only does this ensure that their care requirements and thoughts are taken into consideration, it will also help you focus on where to prioritise your refurbishments.

 

 

 

One area that gets often overlooked during a hospice refurbishment is storage. Once you’ve picked out the colour schemes, furniture and equipment that will be going into the hospice, there’s the headache of managing where and when they will be delivered and installed.

That’s where a supplier like Innova can help. Taking away the stress of last-minute delays or the risk of expensive equipment being damaged during delivery, we take on the role of project manager.

From storing equipment at our two warehouses until your hospice is ready for installation to overseeing all aspects of project delivery, choosing to work with an experienced supplier can take the strain out of the build-up to opening day.

 

 

2)    Patient Safety

 

The Covid-19 pandemic has seen many hospices that we work with develop and enhance their infection control policies as part of their refurbishment process. To help you decide which furniture and equipment to replace, audits are always good practice to check for infection risks, with hospice staff looking for the following:

• Rips or tears in furniture upholstery where bacteria can breed
• Potential for Velcro on chairs to come into direct contact with the skin
• Can furniture and equipment be wiped down easily and regularly?
• Are we using infection-control friendly materials?

 

 

 

By carrying out an audit, you’ll have a clear idea of what needs replacing. With the help of an experienced hospice fit-out supplier, you’ll then have options to choose from for equipment and furniture with special infection control options. For instance, when it comes to choosing the right type of chair fabric, we can help you maintain infection control standards without making your hospice look clinical or cold.

Our Arene Riser Recliner Chair, specifically designed for hospices, complies with the strictest infection control guidelines. Not only is it easy to clean, the Arene’s cushions are attached to the chair magnetically instead of using Velcro, removing any extra nooks or crannies where bacteria can harbour and grow.

 

3)    Comfort

 

Throughout the care industry, we are seeing a cultural change in what environments should look like. Rather than focusing on functionality, care environments like a hospice need to also work from aesthetics point of view. Patients and their families want a care space that is contemporary in design, offering them comfort and a homely feel.

It is also worth noting that care staff need to be acknowledged and looked after, providing them with a workplace that includes equipment that will help make their lives easier, whilst having an interior design that brings about a positive and warm atmosphere.

So what can be done from a refurbishment point of view to achieve the right balance between function and style? We always advise to think carefully about your choice of products. There have been many recent innovations that are helping to create more vibrant and homely care environments.

Take the Integralift as an example.

 

 

This innovative piece of equipment is able to be incorporated into a room design, allowing medical equipment to be discreetly hidden away into a cupboard or bed post.

Not only does it make the interior design process easier in having equipment that can be adapted for different environments, it also delivers the functionality required to meet patient needs.

Through innovative design, we can make patient’s feel more comfortable by making the space they are in less cold and clinical.

 

4)    Layout

 

A hospice can be a vast space to furnish and equip, with lounges, dining areas, receptions and outpatient facilities to think about. However, by choosing the right items in the right places, you can ensure your hospice refurbishment delivers a homely and supportive environment for patients, families and friends.

When it comes to lounges and dining areas, we’d recommend choosing a supplier who will offer you different ranges of coffee tables, armchairs and dining chairs. By doing this, not only will it give you the opportunity to select your favourites, it will also allow you to visualise how different items of furniture can go together.

 

 

For instance, if you choose all the same armchairs for your lounges, it can actually make a room look more clinical as there isn’t any variation.

It can also can have a detrimental impact on patients who suffer with dementia, as they will struggle to distinguish different areas of the room.

That’s why our tip is to combine different types of loose furniture, tying them together through colours and fabrics, to help make your hospice feel more united and help patients with wayfinding.

 

5)    Communication

 

As we know, hospice refurbishments involve a lot of work, causing stress for staff and uncertainty for patients and their families. To help reduce anxiety on both sides, it is important that you have a clear communication channel open, enabling patients, families and staff to be informed about the progress of the project, and any disruptions that may occur.

Patients may have additional support requirements to consider, such as the need to maintain their own routine. That’s why it is important to put strategies in place to work sensitively around this, maintaining occupation of their rooms, if possible, whilst maintaining a safe care environment.

 

 

Having regular news updates on your website, social media, email marketing and internal communications is great way to let everyone know how your project is getting on.

It can also help create excitement and a positive atmosphere amongst staff and the local community, promoting the positive changes that your patients and families will receive the benefits from, as well as a tool to attract more donations for your cause.

 

Summary

 

A hospice refurbishment can be quite a daunting task. From choosing the interior décor to thinking about the overall logistics, it is a project that requires a large amount of planning, precision and expertise. Hopefully our blog has given you a few points to think about to help make the process more manageable.

To get more advice on hospice fit-outs, complete our form below to book a free consultation with our experts.