High-hygiene Teknos paints help transform children’s hospital visits

The power of colour is well-known but it is particularly worthwhile when it positively influences the well-being of patients. King’s College Hospital has transformed the experience of their younger patients with the refurbishment of 17 consulting rooms in their Children’s Outpatient Department using paints donated by Teknos GBI.

Bea Soars of Sound Environments has designed and overseen this charity-funded project, she says “We wanted to make children’s visits a more engaging experience while providing some distraction from what could be a stressful time. When we discussed our design with the hospital, everyone from the nurses to the consultants were immediately on board and excited to see the finished result.”

Charity-funded project

Bea’s vision was to theme each consulting room around London landmarks and commission artworks from a local school to fit each room’s theme. As the room interiors and the doors along the corridor were also being redecorated, she turned to Teknos approved distributor Promain for advice on coatings. “Due to the hygiene demands of the environment and the request from Bea for a high quality paint with excellent durability, we recommended Teknos paints” explains Mark French of Promain Paints in Hitchin. “As it was a charity-funded project we contacted Teknos and they were kind enough to donate the perfect paints for the job.”

High hygiene paint that lasts

The paint used was Teknos Biora Clean, a water-based wall paint with anti-microbial properties. It contains silver ions as the active ingredient; silver is a well-known bactericide with tested effectiveness against MRSA, E.Coli, Salmonella, Listeria and Legionella, amongst others. The silver ions are evenly spread over the paint’s matrix and released at a controlled rate, reducing the number of microbes on the surface throughout the life of the paint film. The extra hygiene demands and cleaning requirements of a hospital setting will not affect the anti-microbial effectiveness as Biora Clean has a wet scrub resistance of Class 1 (EN 13300 (ISO 11998)). This durability is in direct contrast to a lower quality emulsion which at first glance, may appear the more cost-effective choice but is likely to need re-painting much sooner.

Improving staff and patient well-being

One of the key objectives of this project was to improve the well-being of patients and staff which Biora Clean achieves with its M1 classification for low VOC content, it is also low odour so no nasty smells during application. Its soft matt finish accentuates the tones chosen for the consulting rooms; colours selected to compliment each art piece and room theme which includes ‘The Shard’, ‘The London Eye’ and ‘Columbia Road’. Matron of Paediatric Ambulatory Care at Kings College Hospital, Laura Duffell, describes working in this new environment “For a young patient, the excitement of having their appointment in ‘London Eye’ instead of ‘Consulting Room 3’ is a welcome distraction and immensely satisfying for us to see. It helps our job enjoyment and has given us attractive and stimulating surroundings which positively impact on staff well-being.”

To bring the look together, the woodwork was also refreshed, using Teknos Futura Aqua 40 gloss, applied to skirting, window frames, doors and radiators. This semi-gloss paint has a rich, satin finish and can be used inside and outside on wood and metal. It dries to an extremely hard-wearing finish and can be overcoated the same day, which meant the downtime for each consulting room was kept to a minimum.

Consulting rooms transformed with durable, high quality paint

“Using good quality, long-lasting paint has been critical to this project” comments Peter Sotherton, Business Development Manager for Decorative at Teknos GBI “The rooms can now welcome patients for many years without the disruption of redecoration. Teknos GBI understands the transformative effect of surroundings for both patients and staff and we have been delighted to help achieve that.”

The project has been so successful that charity funding is currently being sought to expand the theme to the department’s waiting areas and entrance approach, this time with an educational twist.