Specifying bathroom fixtures for hospitals​ – Meeting the infectious disease challenge

Despite the best efforts of our healthcare professionals, Australian hospitals are not always the best places for sick people to be. As the NSW Government’s Clinical Excellence Commission notes, each year around 165,000 patients contract infectious diseases while receiving hospital treatment (for unrelated medical issues).​

Known as healthcare associated infections (HAIs), these include viruses (such as COVID-19 and Influenza), waterborne infections (like Legionella bacteria), and bacterial infections (like E coli and Golden Staph). Thankfully, there are ways to minimise all these infections. Beyond cleaning regimes, good personal hygiene, and so forth, those who design our hospitals also have a role to play. ​

In this context, this session focusses on the specification of bathroom fixtures in hospitals. Beginning by identifying the infections involved, our speakers go on to outline the products and design approaches that architects can use to minimize their spread.

At the end of this presentation, you should be able to:

• Outline the prevalence of infectious diseases in hospitals and other healthcare environments, as well as their causes
• Identify design practices and sanitaryware products that can help minimise the spread of these diseases and therefore improve patient care
• Outline the regulatory requirements associated with healthcare environments and identify sanitaryware products that help meet these requirements
• Explore options for Furniture, Fixtures & Equipment product specification within hospitals and healthcare environments

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