Stopping hospital users from losing theirway

Greg Truscott, BArch DipMgt MIHEA, manager, Infrastructure & New Works, Royal Perth Hospital, Bentley Health Service & Armadale Health Service, in Western Australia, discusses in detail – in Part 1 of a paper presented at the IHEA 2015 National Conference in Perth and the NZIHE 2015 Annual Conference in Hamilton – a project he has led at the Royal Perth Hospital to improve its wayfinding and signage. Part 2 of the paper will be published in the next ‘international’ (February 2017) issue of HEJ.

This is a case study of a project I am carrying out at Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) to improve its wayfinding and signage system. Although the existing wayfinding system had been developed with great consideration, and a very comprehensive system installed 15 years ago, I assessed that much of it was flawed. The opening of the new A$1.8 bn Fiona Stanley Hospital in 2014 triggered the planned downsizing and reconfiguration of RPH. A budget was provided to deal with the resultant signage changes. Fortunately it was a budget generous enough for me to embark on re-working the whole strategy and presentation of the RPH wayfinding and signage system. 

This part of a two-part paper will describe the existing system, identify the problems it has, and show how the proposed new system addresses them, and improves the system. The project also includes the installation of interactive digital wayfinding touchscreens, a first for the hospital. That component, along with other building fabric strategies, will be presented in the second part. Wayfinding can be a difficult task, and although you may not agree with everything I present in this paper, I hope it will at least highlight the strategies and issues that must be considered to ultimately create a good wayfinding and signage system.