Design of paediatric hospitals

The impact of healthcare environments on children and young people's (CYP) health and psychosocial wellbeing has attracted much attention in recent years. This sits within the realm of the political drive for enhanced awareness of the need to take account of the rights and voice of the child. Perhaps as a direct result of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and recognition from evidence in adult population studies of the impact of healthcare environments on psychosocial healing, contemporary times have witnessed a discernible movement towards enhancing quality care by promoting child and adolescent-friendly hospital environments. The Council of Europe guidelines on child-friendly health care moved to place the rights and needs of children at the heart of health care. The Council acknowledges that the delivery of child-oriented services, which includes the notion of family-centred care, should be delivered in child and family friendly environments. However, knowledge about what constitutes a child-friendly healthcare environment from CYP's perspective is often lacking with hospital architectural blueprints predominantly designed around adult proxy-reported assumptions about the needs and desires of children.