The Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Project Information

Our consultant was recommended to the Trust and commissioned to develop an effective Wayfinding & Branding Strategy for Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital.

Following significant remodelling of the main entrance and corridors it was found that improvements in the environment had failed to resolve the many wayfinding issues Following analysis, Wayfinder presented a strong case to the Trust which argued the need for significant change, if the current issues were to be resolved.

The following objectives, were identified by the analysis as the key to successful wayfinding and to delivering significant Improvements to both the patient experience and operating efficiencies

• Establish an intuitive solution focused on delivering a logical structured information hierarchy based on the use of social dorms
• Improve appointment information sent to patients
• Improve the users ability to orientate themselves within the space
• Address the over reliance on maps for direction
• Reduce time lost by clinical staff in providing wayfinding support
• Reduce the number of missed appointments
• Significant reductions in the use of costly printed materials by departments to support wayfinding
• Reduce significantly the trusts annual spend on signage
• Remove the users reliance on their understanding of clinical terminology to navigate. These objectives and how to achieve them were presented to the Trust in a powerful document which became known as the “Justification for change”

The Hospital, is a world centre of excellence in the field of Orthopaedic medicine. However, it was clear from our observations that despite improvements to the fabric of the buildings, this positive message was not being reflected to patients and visitors because of the poor and confusing nature of the wayfinding strategy.

The existing Signage was of poor quality, disjointed, inconsistent and lacking in message. All of which was impacting negatively on the patients perception of the levels of care they could expect.

Once recognised as an inevitable effect of the poor wayfinding provision. It was agreed that although unfair, this situation had to be resolved and that the only way the Hospitals image could reflect properly the levels of care would be to completely re-think the wayfinding strategy across the whole site.