Injecting quality into the health care building process

This article, which draws on material from a study undertaken by Rawlinson Kelly Whittlestone (RKW) for the King Edwards' Hospital Fund for London, explores the interrelationships between quality in health buildings and the health building process. It describes the new context for quality improvements in the UK, and attempts to define health building quality from a variety of differing perspectives. It also describes some of the lessons learned and threats to quality from the last 25 years of new health buildings in the UK. Decision points which can compromise quality during the health building process are highlighted. Prerequisites for ensuring that quality is both safeguarded and injected into the health building process are identified and discussed.