As New Zealand agonises over its hospitals – where they are, how they should be staffed and how they should be funded – a key element in the debate is being missed: the need for single rooms in all public hospitals. It’s currently normal for patients to stay in shared rooms with up to five other people. In some hospitals this includes accommodating men and women in the same room, despite serious safety and ethical concerns .
But it shouldn’t be this way. For a number of reasons, including infection control, privacy and cost, new hospitals and renovations need to be based on single occupancy rooms. Our new research brings together both the clinical and ethical arguments for single rooms for all patients as the most basic standard of care.
Infection control Many may view shared rooms as a cost saving. But one of the key arguments for individual rooms in hospitals is the cost and harm of infections and bacterial resistance. Single rooms reduce risks by eliminating exposure to shared infection sources such as touched surfaces, unfiltered air, toilets and water systems.
They also reduce the need for room transfers within the hospital which increase the risk for infection transmission between patients. There is strong evidence single occupancy rooms result in reduced infections in intensive care units . And further research has also found single occupancy reduces hospital transmission of COVID-19.
In New Zealand, single rooms are prioritised for patients known to be infecti.