Being the first purpose-built hospital for our children in Hong Kong, the overall design objective of the Hong Kong Children's Hospital is to create a home-like and child-friendly environment.
When a child is sick, he or she is suffering not only from physical discomfort and pain, but also anxiety and fear of the illness, medical procedures and unfamiliar hospital environment. Such psychological stress is significant for children with serious and complex diseases which require hospitalisation. It also affects the parents or carers of the sick children.
Being the first purpose-built hospital for our children in Hong Kong, the overall design objective of the Hong Kong Children's Hospital (HKCH) is to create a home-like and child-friendly environment that provide an uplifting healing experience to our sick children. A pleasant and soothing atmosphere is aimed to relieve the tension and stress from the sick children and their carers.
Much effort has been made to understand more about the needs of our patients and their carers through focus group interviews and telephone interviews. They were conducted in 2009 to collect the views of various stakeholders, including our patients and their parents, regarding the design of HKCH. Reference was taken from the overseas children's hospitals. There were also extensive and ongoing consultations with our clinicians and end users to tailor made the design in order to fit the hospital operations and to address our patients' needs.
To tie in with the overall direction of maximisation of greenery in the hospital and the theme of "A Habitat for Life", we have chosen a series of eight animal characters as friendly hosts of HKCH. They guide and keep our patients and their carers company during their visits or stays in the hospital. The animal hosts in their habitat, with their unique characteristics, represent different floors.
(Electrophysiology & Clinical Trial Centre)
The long legs of the Octopus provide lots of associations for our children patients, including procedures with lots of wiring.
(General & Infectious Disease Ward)
The Pink Dolphin may be pictured as taking a bath in the water to dry its spots like rashes from an infection.
(Paediatric Nephrology & General Ward)
The Parrot and Koala, along with other colourful birds, eating fruits and resting in the tree canopy are suitable metaphors for patients resting in the wards.
(Oncology Ward)
The Parrot and Koala, along with other colourful birds, eating fruits and resting in the tree canopy are suitable metaphors for patients resting in the wards.
(Neonatal ICU & Chemotherapy Center)
Kangaroo symbolises parenthood and the strong bond between parent and child.
(Paediatric ICU & Cardiology)
The big hearted and cuddly Panda is a perfect companion for children in the cardiology unit. The Panda may feel tired after mild exercise, which is the experience that children with heart conditions may share.
(Rehabilitation & Radiology)
The long-legged Flamingo, which symbolises balance, resourcefulness and vibrancy, supports young patients to stay calm and balanced during rehabilitation therapies and radiological procedures.
(Specialist Out-Patient Clinic)
The Monkey, with its playful nature, can help to distract the attention of our young patients from medical procedures performed in the clinic.
Our animal friends appear in different formats and serve different purposes, including as way-finding signs. They appear on the ground floor, providing an overview of the location of different wards or units. Following the path of our animal hosts, patients and visitors will be able to reach their destinations quickly. This helps to provide a pleasant and smooth visiting experience.
Animal friends accompanying our sick children day and night, in good times and bad times.
To keep our key stakeholders updated on the physical design of HKCH and to collect their suggestions for improvement, a mock-up site with clinical and non-clinical areas were built in Yuen Long, to demonstrate the latest design of HKCH.
A series of visits was organised during 5-16 October 2015. Around 450 staff involved in the development of HKCH or will work there, including doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, pharmacy staff, the HKCH commissioning team and Hospital Authority Head Office (HAHO) executives were invited to visit the mock-up site. Feedbacks were collected through structured questionnaire and communicated with the Architectural Services Department for further improvement on the design.
Mr Richard YUEN, the Permanent Secretary for Food and Health (Health), Prof John LEONG, HA Chairman, Dr P Y LEUNG, HA Chief Executive and Dr S V LO, Director (Strategy & Planning) had also visited the site on 18 November 2015. They were delighted with the child-friendly atmosphere and have also expressed their valuable comments to refine the design of HKCH.
Patient Groups are key stakeholders and close partners of HKCH. To engage them on the HKCH development and its physical design, a briefing session by the representatives from HAHO and Architectural Services Department, as well as the architects and the designers was organised on 4 December 2015 at the HAHO. Over 100 patients, parents and representatives from 20 patient groups and HA staff attended the briefing session. During the discussion session, many participants have expressed their opinions and expectations on HKCH, covering the clinical services, carers' supports, transportation and infrastructure in HKCH, as well as the overall planning of the future paediatric service network.
Dr Libby LEE, Chief Manager (Strategy, Service Planning & Knowledge Management)
Dr Lily CHIU, Consultant (Commissioning / Hong Kong Children's Hospital)
Dr Niko TSE, Hong Kong Children's Hospital Commissioning Service Co-ordinator (Paediatric Nephrology)
Dr Jennifer KHOO, Hong Kong Children's Hospital Commissioning Service Co-ordinator (Radiology)
Dr AU Cheuk -chung, Resident (Paediatrics), Hong Kong Children's Hospital
Dr CHAN Yu Hin Eugene, Resident (Paediatrics), Hong Kong Children's Hospital
Ms Cynthia CHAN, Manager (Corporate Communication / Communication & Publications)
Dr Sharon WONG, Senior Manager (Strategy & Service Planning)
Ms June WONG, Manager (Strategy & Service Planning)
Copyright @ 2016 Hospital Authority.
We welcome comments and suggestions, please email to us at hkch@.ha.org.hk
Read the Hong Kong Children's Hospital Newsletter online at www.ha.org.hk/hkch/