There are many design feture of modern hospitals that one might question. Perhaps the most alarming is the use of dry lining and false ceilings which make many corners unreachable and therefore uncleanable. However, a really astounding piece of design should always be acknowledged so here I am now I have finally been and taken the photographs!
When I went to Theatre in February, I had already been in the Royal Devon and Exeter for five weeks. I had walked the corridors many times. I was, therefore, "surprised by joy" on my trolley journey to theatre! Lying on a trolley you are confronted by endless vistas of identical fast moving false ceilings. Suddenly you pass a swimmer looking down. What a smile it brings. On further exploration after recovery I found more, and eventually traced the start to the Bramble (children's) ward on the floor below. On the walls are large murals of snorkellers and dolphins, slowly breaking up into Jigsaws. The jigsaw and seaweed actually wraps round the corner at Bramble. The swimmers begin there and follow you down the corridor.
What a leap of imagination to do this. No perambulating visitors noticed the swimmers. You only see them first when lying on a trolley. Can the designer have got there without lying on a trolley her/him self? Well done, whoever you are. You brightened a dark moment for me and, no doubt for countless others.
To me this is just a marker in the care I experienced at RD&E. Let me record my gratitude for the patching up and building up they gave me over my two (ong) visits in 2003. Particular thanks to Mr Cooper and his team, past and present, and to all the staff on Mere ward who CARED!