Patient involvement in Danish hospital design

Abstract

This paper examines patient-involvement in the process used to design new hospitals. Denmark is in the midst of a phase of hospital building. This recent experience is studied by means of expert interviews with senior practitioners involved in three projects. Examined thematically, the data covers the structure of the design process, identification and ranking of stakeholders, the methods of user-involvement and approaches to accessibility. The paper adds new insight on an under-studied area, design for hospitals and makes recommendations for a change of approach to user-participation in their design. It highlights the difficulties in applying the methods of user-centred design and Design for All in large projects.

Keywords:

• Design process
• hospital architecture
• user-centred design
• user-participation