Today, it was suggested that new NHS hospitals may be constructed without wards.
Under measures being discussed by health officials, patients may instead be accommodated in their rooms.
It would be a radical departure from standard NHS designs, which have depended on multi-bed wards for decades.
Officials believe the move will aid in preventing the spread of infections including Covid, influenza, and norovirus within hospitals.
Patients currently have the option of paying between £100 and £350 per night to stay in a private room while getting NHS care, such as after giving birth.
However, they account for fewer than 2% of all available beds in England.
Health Service Journal reports that there are around 130,000 NHS hospital beds across the UK, but only 2,200 single-patient rooms.
Current Department of Health regulations stipulates that when renovating or constructing new locations, hospitals must provide at least half of their beds in single rooms.
Professor Stephen Powis, national medical director for NHS England and Improvement, stated that all patients should be given private rooms by default last year.
It is believed that Tunbridge Wells Hospital in Kent is the only facility adopting the single room-only approach for its 400 beds.
By 2030, 48 additional hospitals will be constructed as part of the government’s strategy to revitalize the NHS’s aging infrastructure.
The £4 billion project entails rebuilding certain hospitals and demolishing existing structures to replace them with cutting-edge facilities.
The New Hospitals Programme (NHP) is considering the single-room-only concept, which could save money in the long run.
The current economic upheaval could delay current projects and increase the cost of building new units, NHS leaders have warned.
Miriam Deakin, head of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, told The I ‘Trust leaders are concerned about the current status of the financial markets.
‘The volatility is causing problems for large capital projects undertaken by trusts, particularly the affordability of increased building prices.
For hospitals participating in the government’s New Hospital Programme, construction delays also have substantial financial consequences.
Torbay and South Devon Foundation Trust, one of the regions slated to receive a new hospital, had its project cost increase by a third, from £371 million to £497 million, after it shifted from a planned 70 percent to 100 percent single rooms last year.
Professor Powis stated a year ago that the chambers offer “privacy and dignity.”
He told members of the Health and Social Care Committee, “Coming out of the epidemic, I believe one of the things we need to consider very carefully is the number of single beds we have.”
I believe that, for privacy and dignity, infection control, and flow difficulties, single rooms should become the norm in hospitals.
As we design the hospitals of the future, this is something we must carefully consider.
According to 2015 research by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, two-thirds of patients prefer private rooms.
However, a quarter of patients, particularly men, stated that the security of being visible to personnel made them prefer wards.
And the majority of staff members said they would prefer a combination of single rooms and open wards, with some stating that single rooms prevented them from effectively monitoring patients.
Nigel Edwards, chief executive officer of the Nuffield Trust, stated to the HSJ, “The percentage (of single room-only beds) should be more than it is currently.”
However, it is unclear whether 100% is the correct number.
