Single Patient Rooms

With upcoming changes in the NHS policies, hospitals will begin competing for customers, perhaps like never before in UK history. As hospitals examine ways of enhancing the patient experience, single patient rooms offer an almost guaranteed avenue for improvement. However, while UK hospitals have had private rooms all along, there is no precedence of all single rooms. There is a combination of cautious optimism and reluctance among clinicians and managers in adopting the all single room concept. This article, based on American experience, outlines key issues that UK stakeholders should mull over while considering the change.