New hospital showcases 'different way of working'

When the new Royal Liverpool Hospital opens its doors in October, every patient will have a single room with an en-suite bathroom.

That set-up is unusual for acute hospitals in England, but many feel it is the future for all new buildings.

"There's the privacy and dignity from the patient's point of view," says Jacqui Stamper, the hospital's associate chief nurse. "If they're in the room and talking to the doctors or the nurses, there isn't somebody just the other side of a curtain listening."

"And then there's the infection prevention side of it as well.

"It's absolutely the state of the art way of hospital care really."

The new system will require staff to work differently, so patients can be properly monitored.

Each ward has been broken up into smaller zones of between six and eight beds, and each zone has its own base where the nurses will sit.

The trust which runs the hospital is currently running workshops to get staff used to the layout.

"Nursing staff will be used to working in a bigger team than a couple of people, so it is a different way of working," Ms Stamper says.

"We're listening to our staff and their concerns and answering those to see how we can address them going forward."

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Source: BBC News, 2 September 2022