Free Room Upgrades with 80% Private Rooms
Feb 19, 2016 | Patient Perspective
, Design & Innovation
Rendering of a single patient room at the New Oakville Hospital.
When new hospitals are built in Ontario, they must have 80% single-patient rooms. That is the standard in today’s patient-centred hospitals. The rooms are more comfortable, offer more privacy and decrease the spread of infection.
MORE: Journal of Critical Care - Do cost savings from reductions in nosocomial infections justify additional costs of single-bed rooms in intensive care units?
What happens if you don’t have coverage for a private room?
Some people have expressed concern that when the new hospital is built, if they don’t have coverage for a private room, they will have to pay the difference. That is not the case. If you are covered for a semi-private or a ward room and there are none available, you are upgraded to a private room at no charge until a ward or semi-private room becomes available. With 80% single-patient rooms, there is a good chance you will be on your own, regardless of the coverage you have.
Right now, the opposite is happening in our hospitals. Because we have so few private rooms (16% of the rooms at the Ouellette Campus are private and 29% at met), those who are covered, or are willing to pay, often can’t get a private room because they are occupied. The following video shows how the admitting process works and how it will be improved with more private rooms.
WATCH: How patients are admitted at Windsor Regional Hospital
To learn more about reduced infection rates in modern hospitals with 80% private rooms, check out the following blog post from our archive.
FROM THE ARCHIVE:
INFECTION CONTROL AT THE NIAGARA HEALTH SYSTEM