North York General Hospital is a multi-site, healthcare provider located in Toronto. Their patient-centred approach is echoed throughout the organization and demonstrated within their care, performance, culture, employee engagement, and even their value statement, “Our patients come first in everything we do”. The goal of the Branson Ambulatory Care Centre relocation, further known as the new Minor Procedures Hub, was to continue NYGH’s patient-centred quality care embedded within the community fabric as a satellite hub.
Patient dignity, barrier-free design, home-like and friendly interiors, intuitive wayfinding strategies, natural daylight, and patient-first design is central to not only the Specialized Geriatrics Services (SGS) department, but the entire Minor Procedures Hub project. The SGS program is supported by the other main departments, within the centre including the Gale & Graham Wright Prostate Centre, Diagnostic Cystoscopy Services and the North York Regional Eye Surgery Centre. Each unit works in support of the others to provide the best level of care as a satellite within the North York community. Right down to the proposed interior finish and material strategy, the design provides a bright and friendly environment, reducing stigma and creating a calming affect for those who are prone to stress and behavioral issues.
The Design Trends include:
- Making waiting active, providing visual distractions, flexible seating, and establishing a “touch-down point” for patients and visitors.
- Making it seniors’ friendly, contrasting surface colours (e.g., walls & floors, doors & frames), using smooth flooring with minimal transitions, adding distance markers and handrails in corridors, giving a good illumination for seniors, and adding seating and rest locations at regular intervals.
- Creating and highlighting destinations using design features focused on key areas and “nodes”, using colour to denote different zones, and creating a recognizable identity for NYGH using the same “design tool kit” to make it all cohesive.
- Integration of wayfinding in the design with distinct and clear wayfinding seamlessly integrated into the interior design, hierarchy of information, and the use of colour to reinforce the information.
- Innovating materials with a focus on infection prevention and control using cleanable wall finishes, seamless materials in wet areas, coved base in procedure areas with seamless resin flooring, and durable, cleanable millwork.
