Comforting palliative care at Alice Springs Hospital

The Gap, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia

Client: Northern Territory Department of Health

Sector: Health and Wellbeing

Comfort House meets the urgent need for culturally appropriate palliative, dementia and long-stay sub-acute care in Alice Springs.

At a glance

Comfort House meets the urgent need for culturally appropriate palliative, dementia and long-stay sub-acute care in Alice Springs. Through extensive community input, the design fosters patient well-being by providing comforting personal spaces with private outdoor areas and integrating indigenous plants, addressing a vital gap in local healthcare services.

The challenge

The hospital is strategically located in Alice Springs in a community that requires access to a supporting environment for palliative care, dementia and long-stay sub-acute patients.

Our response

The building was located on the hospital campus, away from the acute services zone. The house contains 10 beds arranged in three pods to allow different patient groups to be accommodated at the one time. One of the pods can be secured for dementia patients.

Extensive consultation with community stakeholders was undertaken early in the design phase, so that the design is appropriate for Central Australia’s unique population mix.

Each patient room is treated as a personal space and has access to its own private outdoor space for extended families and visitors. Access to outdoors and connection to nature offers a culturally appropriate design response and reduces the clinical feel for patient comfort and wellbeing. Bush gardens and local indigenous plants were carefully selected for the outdoor areas resulting in a landscape that enhances the connection to the local environment.

The impact

The project delivers a critical need for appropriate long-stay, palliative and dementia care that is culturally appropriate to the community.