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Clossick, Jane and Aydogan, Cinar (2024) What matters in the design of NHS birth spaces: the bed (FASS Lancaster 2024). In: Intersectional reflections on wellbeing and healthcare spaces Lancaster University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Health Hub, 13-14 May 2024, Lancaster University, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Health Hub (online).
This paper explores the spatial and architectural conditions of birth within NHS healthcare, drawing on findings from the Spaces of Birth interdisciplinary workshop held in London in June 2023. Birth is a deeply embodied, potentially transformative - and sometimes traumatic - experience for all involved. A birthing person's sense of agency is shaped not only by clinical care but also by the design and layout of the space around them. Despite the fact that most UK births occur in hospitals and birth centres, the interaction between physical space, clinical practice, and patient experience remains underexplored.
The paper presents insights from a workshop involving 12 participants - architects, philosophers, clinicians, midwives, and ethicists - who discussed birth environments from discipline-specific perspectives. Using grounded theory to analyse photos, transcripts, field notes, and videos, themes emerged around materiality, sensory stimulation, privacy, institutional architecture, and the spatial dynamics of autonomy and agency.
These findings contribute to the Spaces of Birth and Death project, a Wellcome-funded collaboration aiming to develop a theoretical framework for understanding how healthcare architecture shapes key human values. The broader aim is to evaluate current NHS spatial arrangements, generate policy guidance, and propose low-cost design interventions to improve experiences at the thresholds of life.
Lancaster FASS Presentation Clossick Adoygan.pdf - Accepted Version
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