Today's award goes to whoever is responsible for the design of the 'environmentally friendly' Rhondda Valley Hospital in South Wales, UK. According to a news report:
A £36million hospital has been closed to patients for more than six months because the floors are too hot to walk on.
Faults with the under-floor heating system at the 108-bed hospital have caused floor tiles to buckle and pushed temperatures in the wards up to 40c (104f).
Rhondda Valley Hospital in South Wales was due to admit its first patients last autumn but may not now open until next year.
Patients are instead being treated at the crumbling Victorian hospital at nearby Llwynypia even though NHS bosses said it was to close last year.
The underfloor heating system was championed as being environmentally-friendly because it recycles heat.
But staff say they cannot control the heat of the floor in some parts of the hospital, including the corridors.
One said: 'The floor is as hot as a Mediterranean beach in some spots - too hot to stand on in bare feet.
'Some spots are fine whereas others are stone cold.
'It is a bit of a farce all in all. It doesn't do much for patients faith in the NHS when it is like a bakehouse.'
The hospital was scheduled to open last autumn but is on course to be completed at least 18 months late.
I have a suggestion. The National Health Service should invest in a little Hot Foot Powder to get of the designer who's left their staff and patients with hot feet!
Peter
I suggest if it will be 18 months late to completion, that only in lib/left land could it be said to be "on course".
ReplyDeleteThis is a bad thing all around. One of the reasons that Hospitals always feel so cold is that they are kept that way intentionally. Colder temperature means slower growth of bacteria, and lowered chances of many types of infections.
ReplyDeleteIf you make the hospital a warm/comfortable temperature, people are going to be sicker, longer and more often.