The administrator explains:
‘The old hospital needed to expand. We toyed with the idea of buying out the tenants of the warehouse next door. It’s an unlikely proposal but the warehouse’s industrial dimensions mean that it could handle both the weight of new equipment and the renovation with ease. The conversion of warehouses to residences has become an easy game for developers – but is the public ready for a loft hospital?’

An injured man talks about the Outpatients:
‘The new hospital is unlike any I’ve visited. Seating in the general receiving room is arranged in small clusters, the BBC plays quietly on a flat screen television in an area divided off with bookshelves for magazines. Sunlight streams in through large windows with intelligent blinds that adjust themselves throughout the day.’

A patient talks about the day room:
‘I didn’t expect a day room like this: at one end an ample library and magazine collection, at the other, a small demonstration kitchen where hospital nutritionists lead cooking classes. A small bay of computers set up for patients mean that email is popular, and several patients who prefer not to lose track of their work log in to their workplaces from here.’

The nurse on the overnight room:
‘Testing is always a difficult thing to explain to patients. Stuck in bed, probably feeling better than when they’d arrived but still uncertain. I can report however, that for my patients at the new hospital, the long wait in bed has been made a bit better. Lighting has been improved and no longer is every room painted the same dreary beige. The rooms themselves have become modular and can be reconfigured depending on the use and number of patients.’