Retail students get creative for hospital project

Date: 16 December 2010

Retail students get creative for hospital project

Bournemouth University students have been providing creative ideas around what services patients and visitors want at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital.

The BA Retail Management second year students have been working with the hospital to look at what visitors, patients and staff would like to see in the main atrium at the hospital (the main entrance) as part of a project for their Retail Design unit.

The students carried out a number of interviews and questionnaires with those who use the atrium area before putting designs together.

Seven groups of students presented their ideas to the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and Eddie Rathbone, Head of Commercial Services, and Tracey Hall, Head of Communications at the Trust, visited BU to announce the winning group.

Mr Rathbone said: "The students have done a fantastic job and have been very creative in the services that could be provided, based on patient and visitor feedback.

"We are always looking for ways to improve our services and will look forward to analysing the findings to see what users want from this area and how it could be developed in the future."

The winning group were Toby Sweet, Rachel Kidd, Rebecca Smith, Ella Tull, Ella Tebbutt and Annie Morel.

There was also a runner-up group which included Daniel Desousa, Emily Hale, James Edkins, Jamie Ryall, Katherine Favell and Matthew Walker.

Senior Lecturer Charles McIntyre, who leads the Retail Design unit, said: "All the students put forward great projects – they had some great ideas that were well presented. This project will stand them in good stead as they progress with their studies at BU."