Kaweka Health has gone to one of New Zealand’s leading Health Planner’s Ruth Whitehead to ensure the delivery of a state of the art facility.

The role of the health planner is to provide support to project team of a new facility or enhancing an existing facility.

A health planner does this by ensuring there is a focus on optimising opportunities to improve the patient experience throughout the design process from the earliest stages through to project commissioning and operation.

Ruth has a background in nursing, trained in the UK and worked internationally before settling in New Zealand in 1997. She has a special interest in the effects of a health facility environment has on both the patients and personnel.

Ruth’s professional background and familiarity with healthcare is utilised and combined with architects and the wider design team to ensures that the client’s brief is heard, understood and interpreted correctly.

The healthcare planner provides support to enable service redesign and clinical planning through user group facilitation which ensures that the design development process reflects best practice, improves the patient journey whilst meeting strategic imperatives.

“I work as the translator between architecture and end-users’ to ensure and that the patient requirements are met by the project design.

She says the design starting point is understanding what services are to be delivered from the facility, how they’re going to be delivered and then wrapping a building around this to facilitate the model of care.

Projects range from new designs, to complete refurbishments and simple alterations and clients include District Health Boards (DHBs), private providers, construction companies, architects and project managers. Recent projects include Wellingtons Children’s Hospital a and a private hospital in Pukekohe in Auckland.
In designing the Kaweka elective surgery facility Ruth and architects HDT have used the Kaweka Ranges to inspire the shape of the building as well as in the internal features.

“The Kaweka Ranges have been the inspiration behind the facility, and we have used the geography to create a healing place for the community. The local geography is known and understood and by using this we are creating an environment and atmosphere that is familiar, welcoming, makes people feel comfortable and safe as they embark on a journey of improved wellbeing.”