LED brightens children’s ward

LED technology was installed for a brand new outpatients and pediatric ward recently completed at Salisbury District Hospital for Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust in Wiltshire.

In selecting the lighting for the new children’s ward, hospital staff Capital Projects Manager, Sue Biddle, and Art Care’s Penny Robbins, who led the Steering Group, consulted with Lighting Business Development Manager, Darren Marsh, Architect Julian Davies of Devereux Architects, and WSP Consulting Engineers. Their discussions led them to local lighting company in search of an engaging LED solution.

The company supplied a selection of LEDs. Three units of Color Tiles were fitted to the ceilings in three of the ward’s Day Assessment Unit consultation rooms. Powered by Chromasic technology, the tile is a 2ft x 2ft panel made up of 144 individually addressable, tri-colour LED nodes that can be programmed to display creative lighting, animation and medium-resolution video. Purposefully selected for the quiet consultation rooms, the tiles are situated directly above the patient bed, aiming to calm and engage the children during what may be a distressing time for them. The tile is programmed to display either static RGB light, which saturate the room in an assortment of colours, or fade through a series of multicoloured effects that make the eye dance.

In addition to lighting the consultation rooms, four 8ft units of Color Accent were installed end to end in order to make a 32ft long LED strip fitted along the ceiling of the ward’s reception and therapy corridor area. Technical Services Engineer, Phil Grice, programmed eight different effects, all of which have been designed to ensure the feature is a focal point in these communal areas. Selected by pressing one simple button on a master switch, the effects include flickering spots, rainbow stripes and fast moving light running from one end to the other.
Were also supplied 92 LED units, which were installed throughout the ward bathrooms and corridors, soaking communal areas in a variety of colours, and all easily activated by sensors.

More than 2000 children have used the new pediatric facilities since its opening three months ago, and feedback received from parents and patients, on the lighting specifically, has been incredibly positive. Commenting on the new ward, Sue Biddle said: “The new Children’s Unit is a credit to all who took part in its creation. Through all their hard work we now have an exceptional unit of which, children, their parents and staff have commented on being spacious, positive, reassuring and comfortable with the atmosphere having a calming and distracting influence for the children.”