Design Bugs Out

Patients expect hospitals to be clean and safe

Good design can help make that happen by developing furniture and equipment that’s easy to clean and easy to use. If hospital equipment and furniture is designed to be easy to clean and easy to use, it will stay cleaner — and therefore help reduce the risk of infection.

Four teams of designers and British manufacturers have developed new pieces of hospital furniture. By sharing research and expertise, each team designed a functional product that makes cleaning quicker and easier and eliminates dirt traps.

The designs were tested and evaluated at eight showcase hospitals and the furniture proved to be easier to clean after undergoing rigorous assessments that replicated routine hospital cleaning procedures of typically contaminated hospital furniture. Full details of the evaluation can be downloaded from the Department of Health website. The report is intended to assist the NHS in making informed decisions about purchasing the Design Bugs Out products, which are now all available in the NHS Supply Chain catalogue online.

A team from the Royal College of Art also tackled six everyday items of hospital equipment that pose a hygiene risk on the ward because they frequently come into close contact with both staff and patients.