New internal wayfinding signage has been installed at Eastbourne DGH, which divides the hospital into five coloured zones – purple, orange, blue, green and pink with the hospital split into three Levels – 1, 2 and 3.
The principle is to direct patients to their “service address” via four progressive elements – the entrance (denoted by a letter), the zone (denoted by a colour), the level (denoted by a number) then the department or ward i.e. letter, colour, number, name.
Patient’s letters inviting them to an appointment, test or procedure will include these four progressive elements.
Chris Hodgson, Director of Estates said: “Hospitals are big buildings and finding your way around them can be quite daunting. Feedback from patients and visitors alike was that the old signage at Eastbourne DGH was out-of-date, confusing and cluttered. So after extensive engagement with interested groups and individuals we have installed new progressive wayfinding signage. Dementia and visual impairment have also been key considerations in development of our new wayfinding signage. The principle is very simple and we know it works from our early research at other NHS hospitals where similar signage has been introduced.”
In some areas of the hospital there has also been change of name:
- Seaford 3 changes to Frailty Unit
- Seaford 4 changes to Seaford
- Litlington Admissions Unit changes to Admissions Unit
- ITU/HDU changes to Critical Care
- Hailsham 2 and 3 changes to Urology Investigation Suite
- Hailsham 4 changes to Hailsham
- Fracture Clinic changes to Fracture and Orthopaedic Clinic
- Hydrotherapy changes to Aquatic Physiotherapy
- Folkington changes to Westham
- Outpatients B2 changes to Outpatients Area C
This internal wayfinding signage system will be rolled out to our other hospitals. If you have any comments or thoughts on this first stage at Eastbourne DGH, if you have found it easy to use, if it makes sense, if have any key areas been missed, what can be done to improve it etc. there will be a 12 week evaluation period following the installation. Please email your feedback to: esht.newsignagefeedback@nhs.net