"oase.kleinbasel": A cross-generational care site combining hospice care for children and adolescents with dementia care

In Basel, Switzerland, a cross-generational palliative and hospice centre for children and adolescents is planned on the extended site of a specialised dementia nursing home. The project “oase.kleinbasel” aims at utilising operational synergies among two service providers by expanding the facility services of the nursing home, making specialised hospice services available to the nursing home, creating a commonly used protected garden/playground, and using other properties on the site for additional care services. “oase.kleinbasel” aims to be an extensive, sheltered location primarily for children and adolescents with a palliative diagnosis and persons with advanced dementia. The site should be accessible to the neighbourhood, and various stakeholders should be able to use the infrastructure and benefit from offered services (e.g., GPs, home care services, children’s daycare centre). Methods and outlook: An interdisciplinary research team accompanied the planning and development process of the ongoing project by moderating the negotiation of multifaceted aims and needs of the parties involved at various points in the process. The team comprises experts in health, architecture, and design. Through workshops and feedback rounds, various stakeholders and extended interest groups will be involved in the planning process to ensure participation in an early stage. The aim is to identify the needs of different users and providers, to integrate their needs in the planning process, and to harmonise the envisaged operational concepts of the providers with the construction process. Scientific findings from health research, architecture and design are incorporated in the process. In a first preparatory workshop held in 2023 with representatives and staff members of the dementia nursing home and representatives of the hospice association, participants discussed first sketches and blueprints of the site and its buildings. It illustrated that the expertise and perspectives of the future users provide valuable input for the definition of the requirements of the planned extensions and buildings, including the services they will incorporate. It also became evident that additional stakeholders need to be involved in the future process. These stakeholders, as well as other interest groups, to be determined during the process, will be included in workshops and feedback rounds during 2024.