Toothpaste is always at the back of the shop. Why? Because designers of shop layouts know exactly what they are doing. Ordinary daily necessities are put at the back, but exotic perfumes are placed at the front. And those perfumes are in eye-catching packaging placed on mirrored shelves highlighted by bright chrome fittings.

If you watch the customers carefully you will notice that when they step into such a shop their walking pace almost imperceptibly slows down. They look around, smelling the air, sensing the delights of the perfumes. And even if all that they need is toothpaste, just for a second, they feel that the store has welcomed them.

If only hospital designers were as astute as shop designers. The entrances to hospitals really matter. Think of a hospital where the entrance is small and cramped. Visitors arrive in a high state of alert. They have negotiated the crowded, badly signed car park and now they are at the entrance. Worried and anxious, they find themselves in what seems to be a noisy, over-crowded shopping mall. So, elbows out, levels of anxiety rising by the minute, they find a reception desk which has a sign on it declaring that abusive behaviour towards staff will not be tolerated. Is it any wonder, given the levels of hassle caused by having to fight their way into the entrance, that visitors’ nerves are frayed. Instead of the ambience enfolding them and assuring them that they are welcomed, it offers them a fight, freeze, or flight challenge.

But entrances to hospitals should signal clearly that the visitor is in an environment where they can begin to relax, where there is time to look around and begin the process of locating the ward they want to visit.

This is not a pipe-dream. I was in such a hospital last week. There was plenty of car-parking space, so parking was not a hassle. Paths led through neatly tended gardens towards the entrance which had a high, light-filled atrium; there was a large circular reception desk where the staff had time to speak and smile. And the signs to the wards were clear.

It was simply lovely, an NHS hospital which we sensed was a safe and embracing place.

Please will the designers of new local hospitals take note. The hospital entrance is not about trade or profit, it is where the journey towards health begins.