Noahs Ark Childrens Hospital | Philips Healthcare

Improving the experience for patients, family and staff results in high NetPromoter score

The new Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital for Wales (CHfW) is based on the site of the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff. It provides healthcare for the children of Cardiff and tertiary services for children across Wales.

Dr Susan Morris, the hospital pediatric radiologist wanted to create an area where people would feel relaxed and happy to visit, with lots of distractions to take away potential concerns.

A Philips team of designers and clinical consultants researched the clinical and emotional needs and worked with the staff to map the journeys of the children through the radiology department.

Philips created rooms and spaces that soothe at different levels of engagement for different age groups and improved the patient flow and staff productivity of this department.

When the new radiology department opened a study with 116 parents/caregivers of pediatric patients resulted in Net Promoter Score of 78. (Net Promoter is a metric for assessing a customer loyalty for the company’s brand, products and services.)

Philips created rooms and spaces that soothe at different levels of engagement for different age groups and improved the patient flow and staff productivity of this department.

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Where: Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital for Wales, Cardiff, UK.

What: An engaging and calming experience for children and their families, visiting the imaging department.

How: Through a collaboration involving LATCH Welsh Children’s Cancer Charity and Philips, the hospital launched ‘a unique and immersive re-imagining of the traditional imaging department using the latest Philips Ambient Experience (AE) technology.

Results: The hospital and Philips conducted a study amongst a group of 116 parents and caregivers and 52 staff. The responses were overwhelmingly positive.

We’ve achieved something fantastic here. It is better than we anticipated and more effective than we anticipated. Children are more cooperative and we get the scan we need.”

Dr. Susan Morris, Pediatric Radiologist

University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff & Vale NHS Trust

Our approach

The Children’s Hospital Wales and LATCH (the Welsh Children’s Cancer Charity) engaged Philips for their unique capabilities in the patient experience enhancement area. The new building was already under construction and initially the hospital was looking for a consultant who could operate within the constraints of the existing plans.

When the customer however saw what Philips had to offer in the patient experience area, they recognized the opportunity to improve their radiology department and decided to expand the scope after commencement of the initial brief.

A team of Philips designers and clinical consultants reviewed the ongoing plans, researched the clinical and emotional needs and worked with the staff to map the journeys of the children through the radiology department.

Based on our findings, we advised the stakeholders on f.e.:

Optimization of the available space, resulting in an improved waiting area with different zones for diverse needs.
An enhanced welcoming experience and navigation by relocating the reception area to the entrance.
Enhanced visual contact of staff over patients and their families.
Ways to improve the patient flow and staff productivity.

By working closely together with all the stakeholders involved, we helped to co-create a soothing and calming radiology department with places that are operationally efficient, user-friendly, and enhancing the patient, family and staff experience.

Planning and designing for patients and staff

Results

In May 2015 the new radiology department was officially opened. Curious about the effects, Dr. Susan Morris and Philips conducted a study on 116 parents/caregivers of pediatric patients (of whom 47 were familiar with the former radiology department.)

72% of the respondents say that the new experience of the imaging procedure itself is ‘ a lot better’
89% of the parents say that their child experience in the new department is ‘ better or a lot better’
And the Net Promoter Score (a metric for assessing a customer loyalty for the company's brand, products and services) of the new radiology department reached a high of 78.

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