Healthcare

Lighting Solutions for Hospitals and Clinics

Large hospitals are complex facilities to light because they house many different people performing multiple different activities. A consultant examining a patient with a skin infection has very different lighting needs from a patient trying to recover after an operation or a nurse needing to de-stress after a difficult spell in theatre.

Fortunately, we have the experience and product range to be able to offer complete solutions to this diverse and technically demanding sector.

What are the Issues in Hospital Lighting?

Here are just a few of them:

• Lighting controls
  These are essential in hospitals. Wards need lighting to be dimmed at night to encourage healthy sleep patterns, which in turn aid recovery.

Lighting controls are also required to save energy. Because hospitals are in use 24/7, energy costs will be needlessly high if technology is not deployed to harvest natural light when it’s available and to dim down, or switch off the lighting in areas with intermittent occupancy, such as corridors and storerooms.

• Colour rendition (CRI)
  The colour rendering index (CRI) is a measure of light quality. For details, check here, but in summary it is an objective measure of how well a light source enables different colours to be differentiated. In most areas of a hospital, CRI>80 will be perfectly adequate, but where staff are making medical diagnoses CRI>90 is required.

This is because a consultant making a diagnosis or checking a patient’s condition will often gather information from the shade of the patient’s skin or the presence, or not, of rashes, blemishes or bruises. Without light with a high CRI, vital clues will be missed.

We have light fittings designed for use in consulting rooms that deliver high CRI with minimal shadowing – another pitfall of poorly designed hospital lighting.

• Emergency lighting testing
  Of course, emergency lighting is mandatory throughout a hospital but so is testing – of every single emergency fitting, every month.

Testing in a hospital can be intrusive (wards, bathrooms and toilets) and difficult to arrange (areas with restricted access). It is also expensive when done manually. We have systems available that automate the testing itself and the onerous (but legally mandatory) processes of record keeping and reporting. Check here for details, or call the technical team on +44 (0)121 457 6340.

Why Choose NVC Lighting?
Experience: we have delivered lighting solutions to many hospitals, clinics and surgeries in recent years. Local to us, we supplied the lighting for the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health & Care NHS Trust. Click here to see what we did for them.
Product range: we have a sufficient range of products to be able to light all areas in and around a hospital, including any adjacent offices, carparks and loading bays.
Warranty: our 7-year, unlimited running hours warranty is the best in our industry.
Technology: with a comprehensive choice of lighting control and emergency test options available, we have the technology to engineer a solution that is just right for your project.

Lighting design: we offer a complimentary lighting design service, including for emergency lighting, that will provide a lighting scheme compliant with all applicable standards.

Working on your next healthcare project? Contact us for a free site survey, or download our brochure on lighting for hospitals.

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