14th Mar, 2017

Patients, Staff and Visitors Enjoy New DPU Environment

Thanks to successful funding from the Trust Charitable Fund, Octagon Healthcare Ltd, and the Friends of Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, the new artwork for the Day Procedure Unit (DPU) is now in place and being enjoyed as a point of interest and reassurance by patients, staff and visitors.

The wall is covered with a large map, using colour schemes consistent with the wider room to illustrate breakthroughs in the history of medicine from around the world.  Each nation and culture is given representation through its contributions to medicine or public health in the very near or very distant past.  Some local figures such as Sir Thomas Browne and Kenneth McKee were also mentioned.  The basic grounding of research was done by Edward Curtis and then proof-read by the staff of the Sir Thomas Browne library.  The artwork design for the walls was created by Chloe Harris from GGS Creative Graphics - the company also sponsored the print and the design.

The wider environment of the Day Procedure Unit (DPU) has hopefully become more interesting, reassuring and therapeutic because of these improvements.  More and more research points at the link between appropriate and healing environments and improved patient recovery.  We had this in mind when constructing the history of medicine artwork and the colour scheme for the room - red, yellow and blue - these colours particularly have a warming and softening effect.

The idea now in new projects is to explore some of the further points of Environmental Arts - this means co-ordinating colour, space and artwork almost to the point of what would be regarded as interior design and therefore creating the best possible experiences as a whole for patients, staff and visitors.

The Day Procedure Unit (DPU) is visited by up to 300 patients a day, in addition to the 60-80 pre-op patients that are seen daily too.  The waiting area is also frequented by patients for other reasons, those undergoing chemotherapy or waiting for dentistry and cardiology appointments.  Because of the integral role the space plays in the experience of visiting patients, it is important to get it right.  Thanks to the funding and the role of a number of people and volunteers, we are confident that the aims and ambitions of this very interesting project have been achieved.