En’Light’en – Creating Dynamic Healthcare Environments

For the past few months I have worked with critical care patients at James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough seeking to positively change their experience of these clinical spaces. Bringing changing light, colour, projected imagery and sound, I have enabled patients to have some control over their environment and their view from a hospital bed. I have collaborated with computer scientists to develop control systems, powered by Raspberry Pi, which enable patients to control their lighting and select projected imagery and sound from a library we have been creating.

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Patients have been consulted on the imagery they would like to see and the library has grown over months in response to their requests. They can also add to the library themselves, with images and videos of their own. I have worked with patients both in side rooms and in the multi-bedded critical care units. Through a collaborative process, working with an innovative MSc Computing student at Teesside University, we have developed projection systems and lighting units that are adaptable, so they can be easily installed in the varying bed spaces and that are designed to meet the strict infection control constraints. The aim has been to develop systems that are easy to install, easy to use and are affordable. With fantastic support from NHS staff and patients; computer scientists and academics at both Teesside and Durham Universities; sound artists and sound specialists at Newcastle University, this project has demonstrated great potential for future development.