Decorating a live hospital: what changes when the building can't close

A hospital doesn't close for decorating. Wards stay open, corridors carry patients all day, and the people in the building are often the most vulnerable you'll ever work around.

That's why the painting is the smaller part of a hospital programme. We've worked at Leeds General Infirmary for more than ten years, alongside St James's and Chapel Allerton (see our Leeds Teaching Hospitals case study) and Doncaster Royal Infirmary. On every one of those programmes, most of the work happens before anyone opens a tin.

Here's what changes when the building can't close.

Access decides the programme

Clinical areas are released when the clinical teams can release them, not when a contractor would like them.

On our Leeds hospital work, that means a mix of night shifts and day work, with each area scheduled around ward activity, cleaning and patient movement. The programme gets built backwards from those windows.

Areas are phased so a ward never loses more space than it can manage without, and a corridor never closes when it's the only route between departments. It's a very different way of planning from a standard commercial job, and it's the part that decides whether the programme works.

The finish has to be cleanable

Hospital surfaces get cleaned hard and often.

Paint that marks, scuffs or breaks down under cleaning products quickly becomes an infection control problem. So we specify clinical paints and washable finishes throughout, with anti-microbial coatings where the area needs them.

It's worth settling that at tender stage. A cheaper finish that can't be cleaned properly costs more in the second year than it saved in the first.

Clean working is part of the job

In most buildings, clean working is good manners. In a clinical area it's patient safety.

Dust, fumes, trailing leads and blocked routes all get planned out before the first shift rather than dealt with on it. In practice, that means:

• Sealed work zones while we're in them
• Low-odour, water-based products where they suit the spec
• Every area handed back clean at the end of every shift

Our operatives are DBS-checked and used to working around patients, visitors and clinical staff. Just as importantly, they know when to stop and step aside.

Security and safeguarding

Some of the work goes beyond paint. Our Leeds scope has included security fencing on a children's ward, and in any paediatric area, safeguarding decides who is on site and when.

That isn't something a contractor can work out on the day. It needs agreeing with the ward team before anyone arrives, and planning around their routine rather than ours.

What estates teams should ask

If you're appointing a decorating contractor for a clinical site, a few questions will tell you a lot:

• How would they programme around your access restrictions?
• Which finishes would they specify, and for which areas?
• How would they keep work zones clean, shift after shift?
• Who would actually be on site?

The answers tell you quickly whether they've done this before.

If those questions are going into a tender, our guide to what commissioners really score in a commercial painting tender covers what tends to separate the strongest submissions.

Planning maintenance on a healthcare estate? Call us on 01924 723723, email enquiries@gmegroup.co.uk or get in touch here and we'll be happy to talk it through. You can also read more about our healthcare work.