U.K.'s "Healthy Hospitals" envisions better health-caredesign.

Nurses, officials, and designers have recently launched a campaign to spur improvements in the design of all hospital buildings in Great Britain. The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment and the Royal College of Nursing published their findings in a report called Healthy Hospitals, which points out the tendency of most hospitals toward design mediocrity, and outlines a new agenda for successful hospital design as a health-care priority. Research among 500 nurses and directors of nursing demonstrates overwhelmingly — and not surprisingly — that a well-designed hospital environment has a positive effect on patient recovery and staff morale.