A Yorkshire nursing home is helping patients shine brighter, after winning £10,000 worth of clinical lighting solutions.
Wakefield Hospice brought the outside in with a series of LED panels from Visualite, transforming the look and feel of hallways and rooms throughout the building.
The hospice won the £10,000 Visualite healthcare sector competition and had the panels installed free of charge by a local contractor.
Visualite solutions are sensory lighting panels that create the effect of natural lighting indoors, displaying high-definition natural images illuminated by LEDs.
The panels, which are sold through YESSS Electrical wholesalers nationwide, allow patients to experience the warmth and familiarity of outdoor scenes in spaces without exterior windows.
LED ceiling and wall panels create a relaxing atmosphere, helping to calm anxiety, reduce claustrophobia and promote well-being.
Wakefield Hospice won the Visualite competition after demonstrating their knowledge of the impact of the environment on people with active, advanced and life-threatening disease, describing their vision for their indoor environment and demonstrating how staff, patients, families and visitors would benefit from the lighting installation.
The competition was open to all healthcare organizations in the UK and was judged by a panel of healthcare experts.
Following their win, nursing home staff worked with the YESSS Electrical branch in Wakefield and took patient feedback to curate the most appropriate images for each panel location, as different scenes, colors and details suit different applications and elicit different emotional responses.
Soothing natural scenes
All the panels have now been installed at the hospice, which has been providing specialist care to local people with life-limiting illnesses for more than 30 years.
Hospice Communications Officer Ryan Collier-Grint said: “Visualite panels provide a great way to brighten spaces throughout Wakefield Hospice.
“A number of our corridors are located in the center of the building, so have no windows, and these light boxes on our walls and ceilings provide a great alternative to mimic the experience of natural light and beautiful landscaping.”
A member of the clinical team said: “Having Visualite boxes around Wakefield Hospice is a great feature as they brighten up the space.
“Most of our images are of a soothing nature for our patients, their families and our staff.”
The visual panels have been installed in healthcare sites across the country, including key sites such as University Hospital Southampton, Sheffield Children’s Hospital, and the Royal Free and Barnet Hospitals in London.
The Visualite system can have a powerful impact in hospitals and medical environments but is just as valuable in educational spaces, sensory rooms, retail and leisure facilities, as well as offices and boardrooms.
Visualite has a wide range of high-resolution images to choose from, but customers can also combine their own photos and artwork to create custom boards.
Designed with a tough outer protective coating, the Visualite system provides fully wipeable surfaces for easy maintenance and longevity.
Visualite creator Steve Nelson commented: “Many environments are suitable for Visualite, but at Wakefield Hospice we can really see how our system will have an amazing impact on patients, staff and visitors.”
Wakefield-based electrical and mechanical contractor E2M generously installed Visualite panels free of charge at the hospice.
The company’s managing director Mark Gibson said: “E2M have worked with Wakefield Hospice in the past and feel they are a fantastic organization that deserve great things for all the help and care they provide to others.
“Our involvement in this project, installing aesthetic lighting in spaces that create an outdoor feel, was our way of contributing to hospice care and the community it serves.”
Find more industry news here
