I rest my case!

All I've been saying about waiting rooms has just been proved right

CircleBath by Foster + Partners, photo by Nigel Young

I watched the BBC News at lunchtime and there was a report on the new Circle Bath hospital and it repeated almost everything I had been saying about waiting rooms. They even said the architects had been briefed to make a hospital that didn't look like a hospital! Surgeons were being interviewed and said - surprise, surprise - that the nicer and calmer the hospital the quicker patients get better (reducing costs). Frightening equipment is hidden  away, noise is kept to a minimum (someone who stayed in West Cumberland recently told me that the noise during the night was almost intolerable) and patients' have views of green fields outside. But best of all there are NO posters! Not even happy ones but certainly not ones telling you how depressing life is. Bizarrely, there are also no signs. The architects argued that most hospitals have a plethora of useless signs (ever tried following the signs at West Cumberland Hospital to the cafe?) which just make it look like a hospital. Instead patients are shown around by staff (it is a private hospital). The 'waiting room' is described as a posh hotel lobby and smells of coffee. My only problem with that is even posh hotel lobbies can be deadly dull. But it's a start. And confirmation that I was right (feel free to argue!).

You'll find more info and pictures on dailytonic.com