The Children’s Hospital for Wales is based in Cardiff and has been developed at a cost of £165 million, funded with the support of the general public in Wales through a programme that was launched in 2000. Building work began in 2003 and the first phase opened just two years later in 2005.
The hospital provides dedicated surgical capacity, a unified and dedicated outpatient suite and support for the strategic development of paediatric care across Wales through enhanced opportunities for teaching, research and development.
At the forefront is patient care. The design of the hospital itself aims to put children at ease with a warm, child-focused interior design and themed and colour coded floors, ultimately allowing the patients to still be children. Accommodation for parents is located on-site so that the stress of separation for both parents and child is not an issue.
Dr Allan Wardhaugh, clinical director of acute child health in Cardiff and Vale said,
“We aim to provide as many of the comforts of home as we can to make their stay better – certainly more than the children’s wards I started work on. There are beds in all the rooms for parents to sleep in. It allows them a little more normality as these are stressful times they’re going through.”
At Phase 2 of the hospital’s development, Swanmac installed a range of products that support the required environment for patients and their families, and that also provide an efficient and safe working environment for staff. This included over 100 Silent Gliss 4910 roller blinds with blackout fabric to every window and cubicle tracks in all ward areas and privacy window film to all theatres. Finally, laser blinds were installed in laser therapy areas, providing protection from radiation to staff.
We are delighted to have been a part of such an important and ground-breaking part of the development of the healthcare for children in Wales.
images courtesy of www.leewakemans.com
