Minimising Hospital Acquired Infections using Good Design: Future Trends

This paper touches on historic indicators of good hospital design such as sun, daylight and natural ventilation. Evidence is provided that recent trends in hospital design that lean towards more highly serviced buildings with fixed windows lead to higher levels of Sick Building Syndrome, nosocomial infections and SARS CoV-2 related infections and deaths than in naturally ventilated buildings with opening windows. The now soaring levels of nosocomial infections in hospitals make it imperative that we actively reassess such evidence and begin to evolve designs that actually improve the mental and physical health of staff and patients, not kill them. What are the roles in the poor health performance of many modern hospitals played by current building standards, regulations and assumptions based on outdated comfort models and dose related measures of Indoor Air Quality? Some simple suggestions on hospital design to help occupants survive and thrive in them in an uncertain future are offered.