Enter and view: The Atrium at the Louisa Martindale Building

Healthwatch Brighton and Hove carried out an Enter and View visit to The Atrium at the Louisa Martindale Building, Royal Sussex County Hospital, on 17 August 2023. Overall, volunteers found the environment clean, bright, spacious and welcoming. Patients and relatives were very positive about the new building, describing it as a significant improvement on the old hospital environment, with a calmer atmosphere and a wider range of facilities.

The Atrium scored highly for being caring and well organised. Volunteers praised the variety of seating, including quieter booth-style areas that offered privacy, and noted that the large open space felt calm despite being busy. People interviewed were particularly positive about the café, food choices and overall accessibility of the building. Several patients and relatives commented that staff appeared more relaxed and that the environment felt more pleasant and less stressful than previous hospital facilities. 

The main concerns related to signage and navigation. Both volunteers and patients reported difficulty finding lifts, toilets and some clinical areas, and several people felt the maps and directional signs were not clear enough. Volunteers also highlighted confusion around some fire exit signage. Other issues included limited hand sanitiser stations, smoking and cigarette litter near the entrance, and a lack of disabled parking spaces close to the building. 

Healthwatch concluded that The Atrium provides a welcoming, caring and well-organised environment with very positive feedback from patients and relatives. Recommendations focused on improving signage and wayfinding, increasing the availability of hand sanitiser, strengthening no-smoking measures at the entrance and reviewing disabled parking provision.