When visitors finally arrive at the hospital site, consider whether accessible seating such as benches is installed for people with chronic fatigue, multiple sclerosis, and other disabilities, as the journey from the car park can exhaust some more than others. Ensure, as well, that benches have armrests fitted for proper ergonomic support.
Utilising technology can increase a hospital site’s accessibility beyond the furnishings and fixtures. LED displays on doors can help to accommodate people with hearing impairments.
Within the hospital buildings themselves, ways to ensure best practice accessibility are not dissimilar to a majority of public-facing facilities, though accessibility within healthcare facilities is especially important as access to health is an integral and intrinsic human right.
Subtle changes can often make a world of difference, and most hospitals are not required to break down walls and build new rooms to meet appropriate standards for the most part. For instance, in waiting rooms, are chairs with armrests provided, and is the television pre-set to show subtitles for people with hearing impairments? Conversely, is the television broadcasting at too high a volume to cause discomfort for those with sensitive hearing and neurodivergence, such as autism? This simple problem (with an even simpler solution) can even make it difficult for hearing aid users to communicate with staff when needed.
Do reception desks also provide counter loops to accommodate hearing-impaired visitors (and staff)? Accessibility may often be rooted in small changes to the physical environment, but by doing this you can also change the social environment, thereby allowing disabled people opportunities to work at hospitals.
Wayfinding is a key element in helping a neurotypical person navigate the labyrinthian corridors of a hospital, but it is even more important in preventing disorientation among people with shorter-term memory and cognitive disabilities. Providing appropriate amounts of signage (not too much, but also not too little) is essential. Even subtle changes to the text, such as providing sans serif font types and minimising capitalisation, can make navigation of the environment so much easier for people with dyslexia, low vision, or other visual impairments.
Ensuring that pathways to the various units are suitable for people with a variety of disabilities is important too. Colour coordination can be helpful in deciphering a visitor’s location within a hospital, but equally, it is important to not rely on colour and provide pictorial information to remind visitors where they are.
Provision of equal lighting levels is also massively important. In one hospital visit, our auditors noted the use of wall-mounted lighting, which causes uneven lighting effects and could therefore make stairwells potentially hazardous to people with visual impairments.
Within restaurants, cafes, and internal convenience shops, consider subtle changes like making refrigeration units provide drinks horizontally, ensuring that wheelchair users are able to access any drink on the shelf. Consider providing split-height tables, also for wheelchair users. These would also provide convenient areas to eat for people of short stature. If other facilities such as kitchens in maternity wards are at too high a height, you must ensure that an alternative is presented.
If payment counters on-site still provide COVID screens post-pandemic (that is more than likely within medical environments), it’s important to think about whether these reflective surfaces hinder a dead person’s ability to lip read. Countertops and payment areas should also have induction loops due to the prominence of loud background noise within most cafeterias. All the condiments and cutlery within the restaurant areas should also be positioned on a counter at a low height. This applies too to other elements of the hospital, such as coat pegs, intercom and LED displays, bells, light switches, mirrors, and cord alarms within accessible WC toilet facilities.
A comprehensive egress plan and suitable evacuation equipment is also a vital element to hospitals, which are often expansive and built with several stories and wards. Evacuation plans, as well as suitable evacuation chairs, are vital within these environments, which more than any other type of facility is likely to be accommodating vulnerable people with mobility impairments, pregnant mothers, and the elderly.
Direct Access has developed our own evacuation chair range suitable for all, engineered by our own internal team and ready for use in medical environments.
Does your site currently require a review to meet best practice accessibility and inclusion standards? Get in touch with Direct Access today. Our Consultancy team will ensure that you take the steps to not only do the right thing within your budget but also open the door to the social and financial benefits that come only because of creating an accessible and inclusive environment for disabled people.
