Norway

• St Olav is a teaching hospital with a local catchment population of 200,000 for which it provides secondary and tertiary care and specialist services for a further 600,000 in surrounding counties
• The project replaces a former hospital on the same site, the new development is being phased to manage a complex rebuilding programme whilst sustaining full services on the site
• The three aims that created the vision for the new hospital are:
  • Patient centred care
  • Economic efficiency, and
  • Integration of teaching and research with the medical faculty of the University
• The location, close to the city universities and on the edge of town gave rise to the principle of social integration whereby the hospital becomes the “medical part of town”
• A distinctive feature of the new St Olav’s is:
  • A design which aims at urban integration
  • A healing environment, including:
    • A “sengetum” concept i.e. a courtyard layout to create a patient friendly environment and reduced logistic demands on staff
  • Generic clinical centres designed for adaptability and interchangability
  • 100% single patient rooms
• The design concept and high quality construction added to a higher than normal capital cost profile, it is suggested this will be offset by future adaptability at lower cost and better patient care outcomes
• Phase 1 (now completed) has provided important lessons for subsequent phases

• State of the art hospital design with an emphasis on the healing environment
• Designed for future adaptability i.e. interchangability of clinical department locations
• Urban integration

• Oversized for future demands and lacking a strategic interface with other hospitals in the wider catchment area 
• High cost, it is typical of many hospitals funded through a direct government grant model; subsequent to opening the hospital seems to have excess capacity and has experienced financial problems seemingly because of its high cost characteristics and relatively low bed utilisation rates.
• Steps have been taken to convert some beds from public to private use to offset this problem

• Whilst the design considerations have much to offer the degree to which the hospital is a key factor in reshaping future healthcare is limited, it is still a conventional acute / tertiary hospital in basic terms
• A good point however is the creation of a campus model for care and education through establishing a ‘medical part of town’. It remains to be seen whether this degree of urban integration will stimulate social regeneration and / or economic benefit.

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