St. Marys Paddington Hospital - London

St Mary's is a general acute hospital that diagnoses and treats a range of adult and paediatric conditions. Renowned for being at the forefront of leading technology, the hospital has pioneered the use of robotic surgery, including the UK's first da Vinci robot for keyhole surgery.

SmartGlass Medical

Electronically switchable glazing for the healthcare sector. “Patient safety, privacy and dignity – at the flick of a switch”. SmartGlass Medical (SGM) is a division of SmartGlass International and is the dedicated manufacturer of electronically switchable glass for the medical sector. SmartGlass medical products are particularly focused on bringing privacy and dignity to medical wards, operation theatres, and X-Ray suites. Through continued research and development initiatives, SmartGlass Medical has developed specific medical applicable products with the assistance of the NHS in the UK and various health professionals throughout Ireland, Germany and the Middle East. SGM work with hospitals, specifiers and contractors to meet specific project requirements regarding the glass surface, in terms of its composition, certification requirements & aesthetics.

The healthcare industry is seeing a lot of refurbishment work calling for new innovative products as hospital designs improve. Modern hospital design is trying to combat the risks associated with the spread of HCAI’s as well as trying to improve the patient experience by offering privacy and dignity.

It would be fair to say that widespread, negative publicity has generated a degree of lack of confidence from some people in terms of quality of care and patient wellbeing. Patients’ expectations are changing, along with attitudes by other stakeholders to hospital environments. This has been reflected in both the design and fit-out of many new hospitals, and in the refurbishment of others.

Healthcare Interiors

Through continued studies it has been proven that sheer, easily cleaned surfaces are essential in hospitals in order to reduce the risks associated with the spread of super bugs such as CDIFF and MRSA. SmartGlass products offer a sheer, easily cleaned surface to replace traditional blind systems which are difficult to clean and high risk in terms of harboring dirt and bugs. Interior surroundings can be transformed into modern settings which perfectly meet the needs of these particular environments. Research has shown that patient comfort can help reduce recovery time and by offering an improved patient experience thorough privacy on demand this is further aided.

The design brief

St. Mary’s hospital prides itself on delivering the best patient experience by continuously improving patient standards and facilities infrastructure. Keith Murray, Facilities Director at St. Mary’s hospital, was keen to introduce innovative interior solutions which would help eliminate the threat of in-house infection and provide a comfortable environment where patient privacy and dignity would be protected at all times. The project involved using a series of glazed partition screens to section off clinical treatment rooms from public areas so that the spread of infection could be significantly reduced.



Patient Privacy & Dignity

The NHS are working to improve privacy and dignity for their patients as a key priority during the coming years; over the past year they have invested over £1.6 million to improve the ’patient experience’ on hospital wards throughout the UK. LC SmartGlass is the ideal solution for high dependency hospital interiors as it creates a safe environment, protecting patients from HCAI’s whilst at the same time preserving a high degree of patient dignity by way of privacy control.

LC SmartGlass

All LC SmartGlass panels are bespoke manufactured using a lamination process which encapsulates a PDLC film between 2 or more glass sheets. Using a minute electrical current, users can immediately switch the LC SmartGlass from clear to private (opaque) and vice versa.

LC SmartGlass can be manufactured and supplied to suit varying healthcare requirements such as fire rated, x-ray proof and impact resistant. When the electrical supply is switched on, the liquid crystal molecules align and incident light passes through and the LC SmartGlass panel instantly clears.

LC SmartGlass provides a sheer, easy clean surface which can be wiped down with an anti-bacterial agent regularly and efficiently. This greatly facilitates the deep-cleaning process as a considerable amount of time is saved compared to traditional cleaning techniques.





For further information on SmartGlass International projects please visit the case studies section on our website.



Contact Us:

Website: Email: www.smartglassinternational.com

info@smartglassinternational.com