New colourful engaging designs transform child health clinical environments in Donnybrook/Ranelagh Health Centre

The Public Health Nursing Service in Dublin South East recently unveiled environmental changes that are making meaningful impact on children’s experiences of a healthcare setting at the Donnybrook/Ranelagh Health Centre.

For many children, attending a clinic can be an anxious experience and often the space they are visiting isn’t reflective of their needs during these visits. Led by the Public Health Nursing Service, this project looked to transform the centre’s clinical rooms and universal waiting areas into more warm, welcoming spaces.

Feedback from service users and staff found a need to improve the visual appeal, sensory comfort and opportunities for play and engagement for children during their visit. Parents and children contributed their views through surveys and focus groups, facilitated by the Patient and Service User Engagement Officer. Feedback from service users informed design choice and ensured the space reflected the needs of the service.

A multidisciplinary project team worked collaboratively from concept to completion.

The redesigned areas are bright, colourful and engaging, with themes chosen to appeal to children of different ages:

• A woodland nature theme in the waiting area to create a calm and welcoming first impression for all service users
• Jungle‑themed clinic rooms with colourful murals and decals to encourage curiosity and interaction
• Age‑appropriate books and interactive wall toys to support play while waiting
• Child‑sized furniture, floor mats and play‑based assessment aids in clinic rooms
• Adjustable lighting to replace harsh brightness with a softer, more comfortable environment
• Improved display areas for patient information and health promotion materials

All materials and toys were selected with infection prevention and control, durability and sustainability in mind.

Feedback from children, parents and staff has been overwhelmingly positive. Staff report that children are more relaxed and easier to engage during assessments, often interacting with wall murals and decals as part of play‑based assessment.

Parents have commented on how welcoming and child‑friendly the space feels, while clients attending adjacent clinics have noted the positive atmosphere created by seeing children relaxed and engaged in the waiting area.

These changes have helped to create a calmer environment, supporting positive interactions from the moment families arrive. This initiative demonstrates how relatively small environmental changes can have a meaningful impact on children’s experiences of healthcare. The design elements and graphics developed are now available for reuse, making the model easily transferable to other primary care centres.