Glan Clwyd Hospital near Rhyl, North Wales, is a large 700 bed site and is one of the latest acute hospitals to utilise the services of Premier Concepts Health Media for the provision of a wayfinding strategy.

The hospital already had income-generating Patient Information Boards from Premier Concepts in their Outpatient areas, so were familiar with their professional standards, and as facilities on site were developing and expanding, a need was identified to supply information points to enable patients and visitors to find their way around easily.

Premier Concepts were therefore commissioned again, and after initial consultations, and a brief from the Trust's Communications and Corporate Services departments, a total of 15 wall-mounted maps have been installed at strategic locations throughout the Rhyl site. In addition,a quantity of complementary hand-held guides were also provided, that reception staff can distribute as required. By using carefully selected Trust-approved sponsors, both the maps and guides were provided free of charge to the hospital.

The whole process, from first discussions to installation on site, involved Premier Concepts working very closely with various Health Board personnel on the design of the maps, and fine tuning the information, so that the presentation is absolutely clear and accessible, using colour-coding, for example. A particular challenge was making everything dual-language, as the Welsh language version often requires up to 25% more text. Also the hand-held guides had to accommodate use by the visually impaired, another challenging requirement.

Helen Adams, Managing Director of Premier Concepts, comments: "We are very happy to work with hospital staff in this way, and were pleased to contribute our extensive design experience to achieve an excellent result for the Health Board".

Kiri Black, Patient Information Manager of the Clinical Governance Support Unit adds: "Premier have done a very professional job, sometimes having to accommodate late changes and difficult translations, and we have had very positive feed-back from our Patient Information Group. In terms of sponsorship, it was very reassuring to be able to have full control, and vet all prospective sponsors".

Premier Concepts now works with over 180 NHS hospitals in England and Wales, from the very largest acute sites to smaller community hospitals and health centres. Consequently, they are very experienced  in responding to  specific individual requirements, and all products and services are tailored accordingly.

More information, including illustrations and case studies, can be viewed at www.premierconcepts.org.uk.  For an informal discussion, call Helen Adams or Chris Pruett on 01666-829003, or e mail  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it