In December, we announced our partnership with Hipac Healthcare and launched our Anti-Barricade Doorset with Full-Door Ligature Alarm in Australia.
Since then, we’ve travelled back to Australia to learn more about the environment in mental health and the daily challenges clients and healthcare professionals face in this country. To find out this information, we visited Sydney and Melbourne to attend two healthcare events:
● Victorian Healthcare Week
● Australian Health Design Council Conference
Philip Ross, Co-Founder and CEO at Safehinge Primera, said:
“This was an opportunity for me to connect with and learn from healthcare leaders, designers and people with lived experience from all over Australia. It’s a privilege to be able to enhance my understanding of their design challenges and hear how Australia is platforming the lived experience voice in the design process.
“For us, gathering feedback on their experiences was, and will always be, a significant part of our design process. It’s informed how our anti-barricade door with full-door ligature alarm operates; invisible safety that enhances patient autonomy."
How have attitudes towards mental health changed over time in Australia?
Did you know that most people who die by suicide in Australia have never had any support from a mental health professional?
There is still a stigma attached to mental health in Australia. Sadly, like the UK, many people in this country are worried and embarrassed about how their peers will perceive them if they seek professional help or receive a mental health diagnosis.
Yet, the country is taking steps to change attitudes toward’s mental health and increase awareness of this taboo subject by encouraging people to speak up and ask for help. Each jurisdiction in Australia now has a Mental Health Act that balances civil liberties with the need to prevent social harm and provide care. There is also a commitment to providing better solutions for mental health facilities, addressing issues around safety and creating environments where their aesthetics promote healing and aid recovery for clients.
Safehinge Primera, in partnership with Hipac Healthcare, is determined to be a part of this wider conversation, encourage positive change and introduce new standards focused on physical and psychological safety to support suicide prevention.
How can our products make a difference in Australia?
We feel the best way to show how our products can make a difference in Australia is through the stories we’ve gathered from clients and healthcare professionals over the years.
Stories like Victoria's, who shared with us her experience of mental health wards and the first time she was in a mental health hospital. She explained that when she entered her bedroom, and the door was closed behind her, she sat on the bed and counted the number of screws on her bedroom door. There were 26 screws. This number stuck with Victoria. As for her, it communicated two things: the person on the other side of the door could not be trusted and neither could she. Our in-house design team have worked relentlessly to design out visible screws, ensuring we’re actively avoiding the institutional feel so many products still have in mental health.
Another great example of the stories that give us the power to deliver on our purpose is the story of Katharine Lazenby. Katharine agreed to share her story in the form of the webinar on mental health design from a patient perspective.
Our Swiftstop Anti-barricade doorset with Full-Door Ligature Alarm was created through customer feedback after clients and healthcare professionals shared with us that the hinged stops and the exposed hinge knuckle often look bulky and institutional on an anti-barricade doorset. Therefore, we developed Swifstop to ensure a discreet design that complements the door and provides a more residential feel. We followed the same logic when designing the anti-ligature door alarm. Unlike the door top alarms, our full-door alarm sensor is hidden discreetly inside the door to reduce ligature learning opportunities and support a therapeutic environment. We have also developed our electronic door locks with an access control system that gives clients the autonomy and independence to access their room using a wristband without the assistance of a staff member. Yet, the integrated override system allows staff in a barricade situation to access a patient’s bedroom in less than 5 seconds, ensuring staff can always gain reliable access in an emergency.
We always keep stories like Victoria’s and Katharine's in mind when developing our products to make sure we are helping to support vulnerable people and deliver on our purpose. Philip said:
“After listening to mental health design teams around the world and in Australia, I discovered a consistent theme: mental health is a global design challenge, and despite the fact that local needs and design considerations always exist, people around the world exhibit remarkably similar behaviours.
“ One of the things that really stood out to me was how important recovery-led aesthetics are in Australia. It was very heartwarming to hear so many people fighting for this often overlooked aspect .."
HAVE A PROJECT IN MIND?
Talk to us about how we can help you create a therapeutic environment within your facility while addressing your safety challenges.
