Seating and tables from the specialist Challenging Behaviour Collection by Knightsbridge Furniture have been specified for the Redwoods Centre in Shrewsbury, the £46m inpatient mental health facility just opened by South Staffordshire & Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
Replacing the town’s old Shelton Hospital - which was built as an asylum in the 1840s - the village-style Redwoods Centre comprises seven wards offering 112 beds for adult mental health patients from Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin as well as from further afield.
Whilst the emphasis of the care package provided by the centre is on supporting patients in their own homes wherever possible, the new facility now enables them to be admitted as inpatients for periods of up to four weeks to provide more intense support during crisis periods.
The furniture installed in the day rooms, lounges, dining areas and bedrooms within the Redwoods Centre is all from the Knightsbridge Challenging Behaviour Collection. Now featured online - www.furniturewithpurpose.co.uk – the collection has evolved from the company’s pioneering work with healthcare professionals and service users and comprises upholstered seating, stacking chairs and foam block ‘soft’ seating together with tables and cabinet units: all are designed to be safe, robust and yet stylish in order to create and complement a therapeutic ambience.
"I am delighted to say that the quality of the furniture is excellent and it has been well-received by service users, staff and the managers of the Trust," says Margaret Hughes, Operational Commissioning Manager of the Redwoods Centre. "Without fail, everyone has commented on how smart and modern it looks. The furniture meets all the varying needs of service users, yet there is no ‘feel’ of being in an institution."
Headed by Regional Manager Jack Leigh, the Knightsbridge team worked closely with the Trust during the course of the project, presenting a diversity of product options and even staging an open day to enable staff and service users to view the furniture, colours and fabrics which were being proposed for their areas. Knightsbridge also liaised with fabric suppliers on the Trust’s behalf to secure the required colours and designs and to ensure that the fabric was appropriate for use in healthcare settings whilst maintaining a non-institutional feel.
"The delivery of the furniture was prompt and well-organised," concludes Margaret Hughes. "The staff who delivered worked hard and flexibly with us during a very busy commissioning period. I would definitely recommend Knightsbridge Furniture to other organisations within the healthcare service."
Seating, tables and bedroom furniture supplied by Knightsbridge to the Redwoods Centre has been manufactured at the company’s plant in West Yorkshire. Knightsbridge Furniture holds ISO 14001:2004 for its environmental management system and BS EN ISO 9001:2008 quality management accreditation: the company is an Approved Supplier to the NHS and carries NHS Mental Health Contract Number 2012/S 38-061381.
