Personal space: interior design approaches to mental health bedrooms

Designing the bedrooms of inpatient mental health facilities requires a different approach to hospitals. Whether it is providing the right environment for the range of patients, to considering the preferences for a variety of treatments, the challenges that occur in developing these rooms require thoughtful considerations.  

To help you gain a better understanding of the interior design approaches for bedrooms in mental health facilities, we’ve developed a study to guide you in the right direction.  

A bedroom is an intimate space. In a hospital, a bedroom is a place that is yours for the time you are there for you to rest and recover in a safe and relaxing environment.  

In mental health facilities, a bedroom is much more than that. The bedroom is a space for patients to receive treatment and care and in some cases a home away from home due to the duration for which they’d need to receive treatment.  

When designing the interior spaces of bedrooms in a mental health facility, a one-size-fits-all approach won’t always fulfil the needs of those who need them.  

Some of these challenges can include:  

• creating a homely environment that works across a variety of needs and preferences  

• providing a safe space for everyone involved such as patients, visitors and medical staff  

• developing a robust environment that can be easily maintained   

• designing a place that promotes healing to help improve recovery times for patients  

The result of this study combines the expertise of 17 mental health and estate professionals from across NHS Scotland who are involved in the process or have completed the development of a new inpatient facility.   

In this study, you’ll learn about the interior design approaches that can be implemented in the bedrooms in your facility. It explores the demands and requirements from three distinctive user groups for the study to highlight:  

1. How to create the bedroom as a care setting   

2. The importance of the En-suite location   

3. How to shift from standard to personalised settings  

The results of this study can help you take that first step to improve the work that can be done for your patients and staff by highlighting issues and successes found from a combination of other projects.