New hospitals could be required to have single patient rooms only

New hospitals may be required to have single patient rooms only, HSJ has revealed

Chiefs at the New Hospitals Programme (NHP) are assessing whether to include a requirement for 100% single rooms in the new facilities, in what would be a major change for NHS hospital design.

It comes a year after NHS England medical director Stephen Powis said single patient rooms should be “the default” in hospitals as this would improve infection control and patient flow. Currently, the Department of Health and Social Care expects hospitals to consider a minimum of 50% single rooms when refurbishing or building new sites.

HSJ understands the NHP is working with the NHS’ technical standards team on how many single rooms will be required in the new hospitals the government has committed to building by 2030. The teams are considering recommending the percentage to be raised from 50% to 100%. The work is part of efforts to standardise design across the NHP projects and so therefore better control costs. 

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Source: HSJ, 30 September 2022