Bedford Hospital NHS Trust

Hospital Refurbishment

The refurbishment of Bedford Hospital’s two Dementia Wards involved the installation, not only of necessary patient welfare facilities, nurse’s stations and drugs lockers, but also the addition of a brand new Cinema Room, brightly coloured flower murals above the patient’s beds and the fitting of an all new signage system.

Due to the specific type of illness the patients are suffering from, colours, objects, photos and videos are all very important and can assist greatly with the patients hospital stay. Adding images above beds and colour coordinating bed bays helps patients to identify their own beds much easier than by name or number.

The work involved a full refurbishment programme to the fourth storey wards, creating its own challenges as we were unable to use the hospitals lifts, as a consequence all materials had to be brought up the stairs and along busy hospital corridors. Dust and noise had to be kept to a minimum to allow the hospital to continue to look after its patients, the ward remained open while the work was carried out, so the refurbishment took place on a bay-by-bay basis.

One particular challenge was taking up the old floors, which contained asbestos, and laying new floors whilst keeping the corridors functional.

The impact of the changes have been instant, for staff, patients and their families, improving patient care, making life easier for Hospital staff and making staying in or visiting the Wards more pleasant.