BedPod Launched To Address Patient Dignity

The BedPod, created by Nightingale Associates, Billings Jackson Design and SAS International, is being shown for the first time at the Design Council today

Created for the ‘Open Brief’ category of the Design Council’s ‘Design for Patient Dignity Challenge’ and the Department of Health, the BedPod has been launched, addressing the wider issues of patient dignity in the NHS.

The Design Council gave six design teams the challenge of improving patient experience in hospitals through innovative product and service design, with particular emphasis on the separation of male and female patients, helping patients feel less vulnerable and more dignified. The design teams’ solutions had to “work hard at ward level as well as showing value for money”.

To provide same-sex accommodation, the current solution involves major ward or hospital refurbishment at significant capital cost, downtime and loss of beds. By utilising existing space within wards, the BedPod can help the NHS provide same-sex accommodation at a fraction of the cost.

Created by Nightingale Associates, Billings Jackson Design and SAS International, the BedPod is an innovative ‘conversion kit’, providing a fully-integrated bed environment, which offers greater privacy and, ultimately, patient dignity. It provides for the needs of the patient in the 21^st-century, improving patient experience and helping to create a healing environment.

The BedPod is a prefabricated, high-quality modular product that can be rapidly installed with minimum disturbance and minimum loss of beds, offering a Trust more control and flexibility to release space within their estate. The product aims to create a sense of patient empowerment, allowing more control over lighting and privacy as well as improving acoustics around the bed. It is a flexible solution that can be utilised as a temporary or permanent measure in hospitals, creating a private space - even within a multi-bed ward environment. 

An integrated modesty screen enables patients to choose participation or ‘peace and quiet’. Its distinctive curved form provides acoustic reflection and absorption, which offers the patient an improved acoustic environment in and around the bed. A number of integrated lighting solutions also allow general room lighting to be reduced to promote rest.

“The concept of the BedPod came from Nightingale Associates’ experience of providing architectural solutions for a wide range of range of patient groups, and working with clinicians and Trusts to improve the efficiency of their estates. We were looking for an idea which went beyond separation of the sexes as there are many issues that cause the loss of patient dignity even in a single sex ward.” Caroline Paradise, Nightingale Associates 

“We like to work in an environment where design and innovation are grounded in reality and where products go to market.  With the strength of Nightingale Associates’ concept and SAS know-how, we have come up with an exciting and commercially viable solution.” Eoin Billings, Billings Jackson Design

“We were delighted to have been chosen to realise the BedPod idea. Working with Billings Jackson Design and Nightingale Associates, we have created a solution that is both innovative and offers significant advantages for upgrading hospital facilities.” Andrew Jackson, SAS International 

A prototype of the BedPod concept will be showcased at a special event from 23-25 March 2010 at the Design Council in London. The launch of this, and other products and service innovations, is the culmination of the Design for Patient Dignity programme from the Design Council and the UK Government’s Department of Health. This project has brought together UK designers and manufacturers with healthcare staff, patients and other stakeholders to develop new ways to help solve the issues that have been identified of key concern to patients.

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