Background The relocation of a hospice to a new purpose-built facility provides the focus for this research study. Aspirations for the architectural design are embedded in a person-centred philosophy, adapting the Scandinavian Sengetun model of care (Jensø & Haugen, 2005; Hansen & Jensø, 2009) to suit the needs of the hospice in-patient unit. This design features two small groups of 6 and 10 single bedrooms clustered around a social space supported by decentralised clinical facilities and other shared spaces.

Aims The intent has been to discover and document the performance of the design layout in respect of enhanced opportunities for social engagement, privacy, control and choice, inclusion and adaptability, interaction with nature, and indoor air quality.

Methods The design of a mixed-methods case study employed a post-occupancy evaluation person-centred toolkit and was undertaken after the first year of occupancy. Patients, their families and friends, staff and volunteers participated in semi-structured interviews and surveys. A thematic analysis of interview transcripts produced key themes from qualitative data while survey responses provided quantitative and statistical data. The study was subject to ethics approval from the sponsoring University and NHS West of Scotland REC.

Results Data were gathered from 24 interviews and 42 surveys, we will report on the level of satisfaction declared by patients within each emergent theme and discuss the variations between patient derived data and the results given by visitors and staff.

Conclusions The findings add to the body of work around evidenced based design and highlight the performance of a range of criteria that contribute to health and wellbeing as experienced by all users of a hospice environment.

How innovative or of interest is the abstract This research will help inform future architectural design decisions made by hospice organisations, architects, design teams and healthcare boards.