Co-Producing Calm and Inclusion: Designing a Child-Centred, Wellbeing-Led Outpatient Environment at King’s College Hospital

Synopsis

The refurbishment of the Children’s Outpatients Department at King’s College Hospital reimagines a busy, overstimulating clinical environment as one that actively supports inclusion and reduces anxiety for children, parents, siblings and staff. Funded by King’s Charity, the project covers the third floor of the Hambleden Wing and focuses on four key areas: the main and sub-waiting zones, treatment corridor and a new phlebotomy suite.
From the outset, collaboration and co-production were used to understand how anxiety, exclusion and sensory overload shaped everyday experiences within the department. Weekly workshops and engagement meetings, including regular site visits, were held with clinical, estates and charity teams, alongside parent-and-child shadowing exercises. These activities revealed how families experienced the space day to day. Parents and siblings described the cumulative stress caused by confusing signage, overcrowded waiting areas, limited seating choice and environments that did not adequately support neurodiverse needs, wheelchairs or buggies. Prolonged waiting, lack of clear focus for play and limited opportunities for privacy were consistently linked to heightened anxiety. Staff highlighted how these conditions also affected their ability to support patients sensitively and efficiently.
These insights informed a design approach rooted in emotional safety, inclusion and choice. The new layout creates a clearer, more legible sequence of spaces that reduces uncertainty and supports independent navigation. A centralised play area replaced scattered toys, providing a predictable, well-supervised focal point that reassures children and siblings while reducing visual clutter. Bespoke bench and island seating offer flexible, inclusive options for families, wheelchair users and carers, enabling people to choose where and how they wait. A calm, cohesive colour palette, improved lighting and acoustic considerations help minimise sensory overload.
An underused youth room was transformed into a dedicated phlebotomy suite, designed as a quieter, more private environment that acknowledges the anxiety associated with procedures and supports children and parents during moments of heightened stress.
Rather than a one-off consultation, engagement evolved into a continuous dialogue, with feedback from weekly sessions regularly reviewed and embedded into design decisions. This co-produced approach fostered trust and shared ownership, demonstrating how evidence-based, inclusive design can meaningfully reduce anxiety and create outpatient environments that are calmer, more dignified and supportive for all users.