From: Ian blenkharn@ianblenkharn.com
Category: News & information
Date: 25 Aug 2008
Time: 10:24:20 +0200
Remote Name: 86.146.8.18
Yesterday, I visited a small stroke care/rehabilitation hospital. By chance, discussions touched on problems with noise.
Disturbance due to noise are common, break sleep patterns for patients and surely do not aid recovery and well-being. The relevant individuals are looking at funding soft-close bin lids for waste containers. Deliveries arrive at any time from 5.30am, with waste collections around the same time, I suppose in an attempt to beat the London traffic. But what about the noise impact of those vehicle movements, of cab doors, voices, bangs and clanks? I am aware that many clinical waste collections take place at a quite unearthly time of day (or night) to beat traffic and ensure that hospital access roads are not obstructed during busier times of day.
We might all consider the impact of noise and avoid slamming doors, shouts and revving engines. Inconsiderate use of radios in cabs, left playing at full volume, were noted as a particular nuisance. Suggestions to re-schedule deliveries and collections really won't work.
One suggestion was to obtain notices insisting that noise is kept to a minimum.
But there is, of course, a sting in the tail. The noise issue was considered as a problem caused by others, but who decided that the delivery bay for all stores, including food, was recessed into an area with wards above and on two sides? A bit like getting a hotel room above the kitchens or bar/disco, this was bound to be a problem. And where was the waste store, for clinical waste and all other refuse? Right beside the delivery bay! Designers now consider such issues, and separate widely all service and clinical areas in new build hospitals.
The hospital I was at was built in the 1970s, so why has it taken so long to think about this issue?