Prince Charles is acting as design Czar for the NHS
The Prince has accepted an invitation from Health Secretary Alan Milburn to take up a role overseeing the design of new hospitals to be built under a major programme of NHS works.
Speaking in London at a conference of NHS trust representatives, Prince Charles said that he believed the environment had a profound influence over physical, psychological and spiritual well-being.
He said modern medical advances played a crucial role in helping patients to recover from illness, but they were not the only factor.
Holistic
An holistic approach was required, he said. Hospitals should be designed to provide an atmosphere conducive to the healing process.
"One doesn't have to look very far to see how diseased much of our built environment has become.
"Worse still, it is very often health buildings, particularly some hospitals, that exemplify everything that is most damaged in our recent architectural heritage.
"So many of the hospital designs of the 1960s and 1970s offer both a stark brutality from the outside and, very often, the inside too.
"Designed in the hey day of professional arrogance, they frequently present themselves to both the patient, the visitor and the passing public as colossal machine-like structures; intimidating, harsh and, like aliens from outer space at odds with their surroundings.
"These are hardly the best environments for welcoming and healing those who are being admitted at precisely the moment they are most vulnerable and nervous!"
Transformation
The Prince called for a transformation in the practice of healthcare design and architecture.
"Views, landscaping, light, proportion and atmosphere are not optional extras, they are as integral a part of a hospital as operating theatres and trolleys."
It was also important to avoid clutter and noise.
"We live in a noisy world, and yet silence, peace and stillness are often the keys to recovery, perhaps the greatest of the natural healing forces."
The external appearance of buildings was also important, the Prince said. He bemoaned the inability of modern planners to create dignified public buildings that fitted harmoniously with their surroundings.
It was important to bring a sense of artistry and beauty back into design.
Pilot projects
The Prince of Wales's Foundation for Architecture and the Built Environment will assist in the early stages of five pilot projects:
Mr Milburn set out plans to ensure that the new hospitals will be well designed.
He said all new buildings should:
He said: "I believe that involving staff in this way from the outset in the designing the new hospital is central to designing-in improved quality of care.
"Research shows that well designed hospital environments can have a real impact on patient recovery and welfare."
In total 64 new hospitals will be built under the private finance initiative scheme.