How To Create A Healthy, Comfortable And Relaxed Waiting Room Area

When creating a waiting room/area for your visitors, first impressions count. Many of us who visit unfamiliar offices tend to be anxious or nervous and your waiting area can leave lasting impressions on your visitors.

Here are 7 top tips to creating a healthy, comfortable and relaxed waiting room environment:

1. Reception

The way your reception area looks is crucial to making a valuable first impression to your visitors. Depending on your budget we have a number of options to change the way your waiting area looks by updating existing furniture. Consider redesigning the layout, think about the amount of floor space you have, and if you are utilising the space enough. Most importantly, is the space approachable?

2. Your Office Area

The reception and office area should be kept separate if at all possible to help improve confidentiality. This will be greatly appreciated by your visitors, especially when taking phone calls or when your staff are discussing potentially confidential information.

3. Accessibility

Your reception area should be easy to get to - is it the first thing that visitors see when they arrive? Is your lighting adequate? opt for brighter colours and lights in corridors and walkways, this can make a huge difference to visitors with visual impairments. Is your literature easily accessible for the elderly and visitors with disabilities?.

4. Furniture

Waiting room furniture is critical to creating the right impression for your patients, and you will need furniture that caters for different visitors. The seating should be practical, comfortable and durable, even a folding chair will suffice as long as your chosen fabrics are fire resistant. Ideally should also be anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-microbial too (ask us about the Titan and Harmony anti-microbial chairs). At Mogo Direct we offer a wide variety of seating options for waiting rooms, reception areas, doctors rooms and offices - contact us on 01442 736 384 to see how we can help.

5. The Visitor's Point of View

Put yourself in your visitor's shoes. Pick an area in your waiting room and sit for 5 minutes, being critical about your comfort and your surroundings. Do you need to update your practice information for example? Ask your other members of staff to do the same, and you can even ask your visitors what their thoughts are with a short and easy to complete questionnaire.

6. Colour Scheme

Even a simple additional coat of paint can change the whole look and feel of your waiting area and make it a place that your visitors won’t mind sitting in. Think about the atmosphere you want to convey, the idea should be to make it as calming and as relaxing as possible - pale purple is a very calming colour for example. Add a few plants, these have a lovely homely effect and can brighten up a small room extensively. Plus, they are a great source of oxygen!

7. Children’s Play Areas

These can be a source of clutter, so try removing this by installing toys that are fixed and clear out any loose or old ones. You could consider donating any that you don’t need to charity, and if you have space create a “pushchair zone”, this will help parents and free up valuable space in your waiting area for others.