Springfield Hospital

Springfield Hospital consists of over thirty, mainly Victorian buildings spread across a 98 acre site and makes up the major part of The London and St Georges Mental Health Trust. Numerous complaints from frustrated patients, visitors and staff, hampered by wasted time, missed appointments and delays had convinced management they had a problem they needed to solve.

Wayfinder UK were brought in to carry out an assessment of the site, identify the problems and develop a strategy that would offer clear and effective direction to all users. The brief was further complicated by the fact the whole site was in the process of re-development. The Trust planned to carry out the work themselves through their own regeneration company in a unique and ambitious plan to take place over the next 10 years. A new hospital is to be built alongside the existing Victorian buildings which will be converted into quality housing, retail and office space. The new wayfinding strategy was not only required to resolve the site’s existing problems, but would have to cope with the dramatic changes expected over the next 10 years.

Wayfinder UK found a number of problems to solve. The lack of any coordinated approach had led to senior managers acting unilaterally and in the interests of their own departments, rather than for the common benefit of the hospital. This was generating unnecessary cost and the signs brought in were doing nothing but adding to the already high levels of ‘Visual Noise’. The closed nature of the site and lack of interaction between the departments served to compound the issues.

There were huge inconsistencies in terms of the information the hospital was sending out to patients and visitors. Therefore visitors to the site had false expectations of what they would find when they arrived – naturally this was leading to confusion and disorientation. The end result was a catalogue of wasted time, missed appointments, delayed treatment and stress. All of which was estimated to cost the hospital many thousands of pounds per year.

The solution allowed users to navigate their way to any one of the clearly identified entrances for the 30 different buildings. Once inside an intuitive system gave simple direction to internal wards and departments without the use of complex medical jargon. Our understanding of information hierarchies helped us to design strategy that gave the next bit of information to the user as they needed it, rather than over burdening them with too much information early on in their journey. This approach not only reduced confusion but meant that the number of signs needed was dramatically reduced.

Significant benefits and improvements were achieved across a number of aspects, particularly in terms of operational issues and user satisfaction. The site image was drastically improved with a significant reduction in the number of complaints noted. Increases in efficiency and navigation meant there was a significant reduction of late arrivals and appointments missed, this also improved the attendance of voluntary therapy groups. Overall the staff and patients were thrilled with positive impact the wayfinding strategy had on Springfield Hospital.