The Portsmouth Society - News
| News | The New Queen Alexandra Hospital | |
| Earlier news | The massive new QA hospital was universally condemned. The application has now been withdrawn, but we hope that the redesign is more than skin deep. "At the moment most hospital environments say to the patient, in effect: "How you feel is unimportant. You are not of value. Fit in with us, not us with you". With very little effort and money, this could be changed to something like: "Welcome. And don't worry. We are here to reassure you and your treatment will be good and helpful to you". A View from the Front Line Maggie Keswick Jencks 1995. The network of Maggie's Centres dedicated to her memory for cancer patients are designed to be comfortable, welcoming places, very different from the institutional spaces of the NHS. Her husband says "These are buildings that can have a huge impact on people's lives. You can't cure people by giving them a nice building but I believe that the spirit of the place does have a therapeutic role. Architecture can give people strength and help them challenge their fate" The Architect's Journal 25 September 2003 To see what might have been, we only need to look at the same consortium's ugly Swindon and Woolwich by BDP, massive, depressing, and unwelcoming. Radio 4 recently had item on Healthy Hospitals, asking people to vote on ideas for improving their design and also containing some useful quotes about giving good design priority. Their website is www.healthyhospitals.org.uk. The new ACAD centre in the Middlesex Hospital was praised by Jon Rouse, chief exec. of CABE. He ways it is the best healthcare building he's seen for years. "...the interior is uplifting, full of natural light; here is order and clarity. The really special thing is that it works as well for staff as for patients. The public areas are serene and relaxing, while the work areas are extraordinarily functional and pleasing. The details are meticulously thought through. He contrasts it with the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, which opened a couple of years ago. "A PFI hospital, it is truly dreadful. It is impossible to get to unless you can drive, so cars are parked nose-to-tail around the building. It has no real relationship with its surroundings and is surrounded by a 7ft-high chain-link fence, giving it the look of a high-security prison or an out-of-town retail centre. Inside is a sprawling layout, split by long, forbidding planning 'long corridors...' etc. as well as the outside and car parking arrangements that were depressing." Paulsgrove - and Portsmouth deserve better. We entirely agree with Ron Tate that Portsmouth deserves an award winning hospital. |