ID-LAB European Tour: Talking co-design, collaboration and a court case

My view from the presenters table at the European Health Design conference in London

I was very happy to be invited to speak at this year’s European Healthcare Design Conference in London. 

After a few quiet COVID years, it was invigorating to get back to Europe to see our colleagues in Brussels and the Netherlands, absorb some interesting content from international presenters, and tour the streets of Paris and London (by bike, of course). 

On my way to day two of the European Health Design Conference in London

I learned a lot at this year’s conference. I’m hoping I also helped more people in our industry to understand why design needs to include the voices, ideas and experiences of users to be truly inclusive, and how to facilitate this type of work.  

Strengthening resilience in healthcare – it’s a worldwide challenge

This year’s conference theme was all about resilience. Specifically, how the health system can become more robust to improve patient experiences and health outcomes. 

Within a diverse program of speakers and events, it was heartwarming to see one of our projects – Campbelltown Hospital – representing Australian design and ingenuity on the other side of the world. 

It was so nice to see a presentation about one of our projects - Campbelltown Hospital- on the other side of the world

I was invited to speak about another hospital project. But I wasn’t there to talk about successful hospital design – I was there to talk about failure first. 

How we’re co-designing a collaborative wayfinding system for vision-impaired users

Australia has an impressive and extensive health system consisting of over 1,300 public and private hospitals admitting around 30 million patients every year, and more new and upgraded hospital facilities planned. 

While investment is high, it hasn’t necessarily translated into quality and accessible care for all users. 

In 2019, a legally blind man launched legal action against the Sunshine Coast University Hospital (SCHU) and Health Service believing he had experienced disadvantage and discrimination. Peter Ryan's court application contended the poor design of the $1.8-billion Sunshine Coast University Hospital, opened in 2017, caused him to frequently get lost when he visited as an outpatient at the renal and cardiac clinics.

By the final ruling in July 2021, Australia’s Federal District Court determined that SCUH must spend millions to correct 17 breaches that discriminated against vision-impaired users. The decision sets a precedent for future hospitals around minimum building standards for accessibility, outlining in law that the safety, dignity and experience of all users must matter.

Experience of SCUH’s design for users without vision impairment

As the court case iterated, the design featured poor colour contrast, barely visible glass doors and disorientating lighting

This is where our thinking comes in. 

We’ve been tasked with helping to ensure the entire facility environment works for, not against, vision-impaired users. As I explained in my talk at the conference, it is our responsibility to ensure the redesign of SCUH doesn’t repeat the design mistakes of the past. 

By enabling decision-making, more targeted user testing, and demonstrable improvement of facility elements that have vision-impaired peoples’ needs in mind from the start, we can create a truly user-centred wayfinding solution that considers and incorporates the needs of all users, whether sighted or vision-impaired. 

We’re part a more resilient healthcare future 

For users, inequality of access to healthcare facilities is a human rights issue. For affected facilities, design oversights have proven to be immensely costly. 

While I was at the conference, someone asked me why I was there – after all, I'm not an architect, a healthcare professional or a policy advisor.

The answer is simple: about 75% of the work we do is in hospitals. We need to understand what lives in that world, what the trends are and what that the language is. It allows us to better understand what is driving our clients, and how we can help them to achieve certain outcomes. 

Listening and participating in these important conversations is also a vital part of honing our holistic design process – something we’re continually finessing as we expand into new areas, new projects and new international spaces.