How to refresh your healthcare washrooms and stick to your budget
Every healthcare environment needs hygienic and accessible washrooms for all. Whether it’s patients, staff or visitors, clean and comfortable facilities are crucial to ensure that users feel comfortable and welcome.
The good news is that refreshing your healthcare toilets doesn’t have to be a huge washroom refurbishment project that costs a fortune. There are loads of small ways you can instantly refresh these spaces, without going over your budget.
And we’re going to share these with you in our guide below.
1. Add a lick of paint
When was the last time you repainted the walls and surfaces in your healthcare washrooms?
If it’s been quite some time since you last decorated, you’d be amazed at just how quickly you can transform the space with a lick of paint.
You could refresh the existing colour or you might even want to go for something warmer and more modern, the choice is yours. But this is by far one of the quickest and most affordable ways to brighten up your healthcare toilets.
2. Refresh your signage
In a healthcare setting, signage can be very important and therefore, very common sight. However, over the years, these signs can become outdated, worn or damaged.
By having your signs reprinted and hung back up on the wall, you can modernise the space and replace any tatty, worn materials that could be detracting from the appearance of your washrooms.
Again, this is another really straightforward and affordable way to instantly spruce up the room.
3. Consider adding some accessories
Adding accessories to your healthcare washrooms can refresh the space, and the good news is that these don't have to be expensive.
Nowadays, you can purchase plenty of beautiful artwork online for a very reasonable price. Alternatively, you can add plants (whether real or fake), vases and cabinets.
In doing so, you can add a splash of colour and even some natural elements like plants and wood to your washrooms. This can be a great mood booster and help visitors to feel more relaxed.
4. Get rid of dirty dispensers
In a time and place where hygiene is of the utmost importance, getting rid of dirty soap dispensers is vital.
These items will typically have dealt with heavy handling over the years and can become discoloured, damaged or even broken as a result.
So why not replace your dispensers with modern alternatives? You could even go one step further and choose sensor dispensers that promote better hygiene.
These can also add to the sleek, modern aesthetic of your healthcare washrooms and they can be an inexpensive change.
5. Modernise your toilet cubicles (and everything within)
There are several aspects that make up your toilet cubicles. You have the physical cubicle, of course, but you also have the toilet, seat, locks, toilet roll holder and any other additional accessories you may wish to include.
These spaces are handled very regularly, which means they can easily become discoloured or damaged. If any of these elements are dirty, damaged or broken, your toilet cubicles can quickly feel like a very unpleasant place to be.
So, it’s a good idea to review your cubicles, fix any issues and possibly even replace older toilet systems, discoloured seats and introduce more hygienic automatic flushes if you haven’t already.
If you want to go one step further, you could completely revamp your cubicles with new, seamless panels or opt for walls that go all the way from the ceiling to the floor. This increases privacy and safety for all users and can be a very welcome change to your cubicle design.
Updating your workplace toilet facilities
Based on this information, you may have decided that a washroom refurbishment project could be the ideal gift to your workforce in the coming months. That’s great news, however, it can be tricky to know where to start.
You need to think about everything from your budget to design elements, as well as potentially redesigning larger structures and introducing new toilet cubicles and other facilities.
Sure, in some cases a lick of paint, new accessories and a few new appliances could be enough to breathe some life back into your spaces. But if you’ve got your work cut out to transform your washrooms, it is a good idea to work with a professional design company.
They will be able to assist with your budget, design ideas, installation, regulations and everything in between.
6. Install some new taps
Imagine healthcare toilets where the sinks and taps are so outdated or unappealing that visitors actively avoid washing their hands.
Unfortunately, this happens and can be particularly dangerous in a healthcare setting.
So one of the simplest but most important ways you can refresh your washrooms this year is to replace these fixtures for better quality taps.
Better still, opt for automatic, sensor taps so that visitors don’t even have to touch them. This can make people feel happier and more confident in using the facilities, plus it is far more hygienic.
If your sinks are also dirty and discoloured, it might be time to replace the actual basins as well.
7. Replace rusty locks
Finally, in a busy healthcare setting, door locks and hooks are in continuous use and over time, these can rust, break or simply become stiff and unmanageable.
You want all patients and visitors to feel safe when using your washrooms, so working locks and hardware is absolutely crucial.
Just changing the locks on your doors can instantly make your healthcare toilets feel more usable and make visitors feel safer.
Is it time to refresh your washrooms?
By making just one of these changes, you can have a huge impact on the look and feel of your healthcare washrooms.
Now imagine making several of these changes simple but effective updates. In doing so, you can transform your healthcare washrooms whilst ensuring that you stick to your budget.