6.49 The defining of the functional relationships between the clinical services will enable the participant to produce a design that maximises efficiency. For example, the pharmacy may be best situated near to the out-patient department.
6.50 The broad specification of the functional content of the facility needed to support the services using it should consider:
• the indicative caseload and/or number of beds by speciality, including speciality performance targets (for example average length of stay, occupancy rates, etc);
• the notional number of beds per ward and proportion of single rooms required. This will be influenced by the NHSScotland body's intentions about the delivery of patient care (for example, care philosophy) and any national imperatives such as single-sex wards;
• Patients Charter requirements;
• National Standards/Targets;
• hygiene facilities required (for example, en-suite facilities to a proportional number of beds etc);
• types of patient to be treated (for example, in-patients, out-patients and high or low dependency);
• planned patient flows;
• planned patient activity by speciality;
• the continuous need for the facilities to cope with minor adaptations and alterations in response to service need, technical advances or statutory changes.
6.51 The solution for the building design and operation of the facilities has to support the delivery of the key operational policies. This should include details of how patient care is to be delivered and the operational policies needed to support it - for example, total patient care, the notional number of sessions per week in key facilities and the hospital working day.