The Covid 19 pandemic has hugely affected hospitals, with Respiratory units at the forefront. Updating and enhancing these areas has been of utmost importance and both Vistamatic and BetweenGlassBlinds were proud to be a part of the recent refurbishments at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.
The John Radcliffe Hospital is the largest hospital in the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, with 832 beds, and serves a population of around 655,000 people. The Respiratory team care for people with various breathing conditions such as asthma, interstitial lung diseases, cystic fibrosis, and bronchiectasis, among many others.
Completed in 26 weeks, the Osler Respiratory Unit is a refurbishment of two tired and dated wards on level 5 of the hospital. Due to Covid-19, the Respiratory team had moved several times, before being able to settle into the new 24 bed ward. Six of the beds are for patients from High Dependency Units (HDU) and two beds for cystic fibrosis patients.
Starting in late 2020, Vistamatic and BetweenGlassBlinds provided both vision panels and integral blinds to Marcon Construction for the project.
The privacy vision panels were needed in side room and patient bay doors. A mixture of 404 x 404 and 250 x 800 non fire rated and FD30 fire rated vision panels were used. The vision panels were required to be operable from both sides, with an easy mode of operation. A lever handle was best suited to operate the vision panel as the handles are chromium plated, easy to clean and suited for either hand or elbow operation.
BGB’s integral blinds were specified for both internal screens and external windows. The screens were a mix of both Tilt & Lift and Tilt Only functions, and had both single and dual sided operation, dependent on their location. The external windows were supplied as Tilt & Lift A-rated units.
Helen Disley, deputy matron, revealed that the team is 'very excited' to have found a more permanent home. She commented: "The dedicated ward will enable us to offer specialist treatment in a purpose-built modern environment with better facilities.
"This is a great step forward for the department because it will improve patient care and provide staff with a more suitable base for the long-term future.”
