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Here is an update on a previous post about my own NHS reforms.
I visited the Wellcome Collection’s exhibition ‘Dirt’, a tour of our relationship with dirt, illustrated by different places and times. One of the places was the 1938 Finsbury Health Centre, a modern and pioneering design which helped to advance healthcare in Britain. On show was a drawing by Tecton. It contrasted a run down, victorian waiting room and the words ‘Lack of confidence in everything!’ with an airy spacious clean lined entrance hall, who’s ‘glass bricks, clean surfaces and bright colours produce a cheerful effect’ and an ‘ air of efficiency gives confidence to the patients’.
I was interested in this as it seems to fit in with my ‘keep to the notice boards’ policy change.
A small change in behaviour can have big results. A study has shown that the words used by GP receptionists when booking appointments and positive messages in posters can dramatically reduce missed appointments and save a great deal of time and money. This is a very clever change – a free ‘tweak’ to cut costs. (I wonder if this method could have been applied to other areas in the public sector to reduce the vast cuts.)
Here is a brief interview on the Today programme. with Professor Robert Caldini.
The coalition government are working on proposals for large scale reform of the NHS. Here is a policy suggestion from a designers’ point of view.
A characteristic of waiting rooms of the NHS, and mainly the GP surgery, is the information poster. The posters – how to quit smoking, what to eat, opening times etc – spill out of the notice boards, and are blue tacked on to the the walls and doors, as if aiming to cover every surface.
The posters and print outs are full of good information. But there is a lot of visual clutter. Is there too much to take in? Are there too many diseases, photos of diseases, hazards and things you should be doing presented to you as you sit and wait for your appointment? And you may not catch those important opening times, if you don’t scan every perpendicular surface.
So, here is the new policy. All posters and notices to be confined to notice boards!
The result? A calmer, cleaner, more organised looking space. The service feels more organised and reassuring as a result. It is a better place to sit when you are uncomfortable or worried. The pinned up posters look tidy and professional, not just stuck up on a door by overworked staff trying to communicate with the public.
There may be fewer messages, but they could have greater impact and authority. They would have space around them to breathe. Its a way of rationalising a space, just the way a designer would organise a web or magazine page.
The new found space could make way for a calm area of well chosen flat colour or a soothing image of a landscape, a ‘window’ on the outside world that everyone responds to.
Looking ahead, as print dwindles, it may be that all the information will come to us via a stimulating large bright screen with moving update-able graphics, in the post reform NHS waiting rooms.
Britain is experiencing a cold snap and consequently there is talk of how to keep warm. This has made me look at old ways to keep out the cold.
. This is a detail of a tapestry which hung in a hall in Medieval England. It was a barrier against the cold drafts which crept in through the walls.
It shows a summer hunting scene. Dogs are chasing a bear and a boar. At the same time, well dressed courtiers are chasing each other. The flowers and foliage, fine dress and warm cheerful colours are designed to make the onlookers think of the warm months. We are transported to summer for a moment.
The Guernsey sweater is a traditional woollen jumper which has been made since the 1400s. It was knitted, with pride, in the Channel Islands and designed to be worn by the local fisherman. It is easy to move around in and has a tight knit and oily wool to resist sea spray and wind. The fisherman wore the sweater loose and next to the skin, so a layer of insulating warm air built up.
I noticed that the Inuit wear their parkas with the fur directly against bare skin when one of the characters in the film Atanarjuat, The Fast Runner peeled off his parka. The film, which gives a realistic picture of Inuit life, could be set at any time in the tribes’ history. People have lived in this area of Arctic Canada for 4000 years. This kind of clothing has ensured that they survived. The Inuit wear a second parka on top of the first, this time with fur facing outwards, so snow and ice can be shaken off.
Sources:
Parka from the BM
 
Dartmoor villages feel as if they have been built to withstand the harsh and changeable weather of the moor, even on a summer’s day. The buildings look thick walled and sturdy and the space in the streets is intimate. Here the buildings are decorated with bunting and, in a small public area, a sculpture shows appreciation for the sturdy sheep and ponies of the moor.
Smoke houses in Hastings on the South Coast of England and in Mallaig on the West Coast of Scotland.
Britain’s polling stations. A school hall, a church hall, a sign outside in black text on cheap white paper. The booths are tacked together flimsey hardboard and unfinished 2 by 1. The voters mark the papers using pencils tied to the booth with string; a vote is a simple big cross, that you may see a character in a film make if they can’t write their name. The only branding to be seen is the red, blue and yellow-orange rosettes of those holding clip boards outside the door. The paper, pencils and undesigned environment give a the feeling of democracy and process that has been around for many years.
Yesterday, many angry citizens (subjects?) missed out on their right to vote as the stations were overloaded and time ran out. Now the Electoral Commisson, a not very watchful watchdog, is looking for reform. We told you so! they say, as they pass the buck to the returning officers. The system is out of date!
I am not sure why the organisers didn’t lay on a few more workers and tables and have a reserve of ballot papers. But I hope the low tech system of voting won’t be blamed and moved aside. Will a management consultancy change paper and pencil for electronic and digital interface? Will a branding agency change the ‘look and feel’ of the voting experience to reflect the new era of electoral reform? Just because it isn’t digital, it doesn’t not mean it is wrong.
This reconstruction of a greek temple is painted on the scaffolding net which surrounds the ruins.
Link to original image
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