Clinicians step into ward redevelopment design
To help shape a $292.5 million ward refurbishment and infrastructure program at The Alfred, doctors, nurses and allied health clinicians recently stepped inside life-sized architectural plans, giving them a unique opportunity to experience the proposed spaces firsthand.
Over three full days and after months of input, ICU, surgical and medical teams have been put at the centre of the decision-making process, using technology which allows them to experience the proposed designs at full size and which gives them the opportunity to test the plans against their daily clinical work.
“By walking through the space with beds and wheelchairs and considering how patients, staff and equipment move through it, we can quickly see what works well and where tweaks are needed to ensure we can best deliver care,” said Dr Archana Thayaparan, Acting Deputy Program Director Emergency, Virtual Care and Outpatients at The Alfred.
“We’re not experts at reading traditional architectural plans, so to have it laid out in this way means not only can we interact with the space, but that we can provide feedback that’s meaningful and will shape the final designs.”
Designed to enhance patient privacy and comfort, the project will create a new space for the existing Intensive Care Unit to relocate to, deliver an additional ward in Phillip Block, and refurbish five wards within the Main Ward Block.
The works will also uplift fire safety and optimise critical infrastructure services such as the air handling units, electrical infrastructure and the heating and cooling plant at the hospital.
Bayside Health Chief Executive Adjunct Professor Adam Horsburgh toured the warehouse space in North Melbourne which houses the plans, alongside Minister for Health Infrastructure Melissa Horne MP, and inpatient unit teams from The Alfred.
