Dementia Friendly Hospital Design – Tallaght Hospital and TrinityHaus, TCD, 2017
The adoption of the ‘hospital street’ in many hospital developments (O'Dwyer, 1997, Prasad, 2012) is an example of a spatial organisation that supports orientation, legibility and wayfinding, particularly in the context of large and complex hospitals. Huelat advocate employing maps at critical decision points and the use of simple userfriendly language and terminology will also aid navigation (Huelat, 2007). In addition, she refers to the wayfinding role played by facility amenities such as information desks, this is reiterated in other literature where recommendations include one main reception and information point (Mason, 2006) located in an obvious location (Fleming and Bennett, 2014).
3.6.5
Key Internal and External Spaces
The design of internal and external spaces should incorporate all of the key design issues discussed in Section 3.5. According to these issues, adopting a human scale that softens the institutional character and introduces some level of familiarity will contribute to a dementia friendly approach. A number of hospital specific guidance documents reiterate the benefits of familiarity and promote the use of domestic scale seating and dining areas; personal and self-care items; photographs and memory boxes; recognisable sanitary ware; and, traditional crockery and cutlery (Waller et al., 2013). Furthermore, Fleming and Bennett (Fleming and Bennett, 2014) contend that the environment should afford a patient an opportunity to preserve their competence through the use of familiar furniture, fittings and colours in the hospital setting. In terms of personalisation, Fleming (DEEP and Fleming, 2016) proposes that people with dementia should be able to personalise their environment with familiar objects, while the Health Building Note 08-02 (Department of Health (UK), 2015) promotes personalised artwork in spaces to support self-esteem and personal identity: Doors should be personalised to improve navigation and way-finding, thus enhancing independence. Coverings, artwork and personal objects can be positioned on doors to bays, single rooms.....Due consideration needs to be given to patients' and residents' cultural background to avoid upsetting personal feelings and beliefs (p.54). Design that maximises positive sensory stimulation such as light, views, or contact with nature as outlined in Section 3.5 has been identified by researchers as a beneficial
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