Professor Stephen Powis said: 'I think that we need to move in our hospitals much more to single rooms being the default for privacy and dignity, for infection control and actually for flow issues'
Patients should be given single rooms in hospitals by 'default' rather than put on wards to stop infections spreading, an NHS boss said today.
Professor Stephen Powis, NHS England and Improvement's national medical director, said the rooms offer 'privacy and dignity'.
Going forward, hospitals should be built around single rooms, he said.
As it stands, patients are automatically put into wards when they arrive at hospital.
But patients can pay between £100 and £350 a night to stay in a private room while receiving NHS care — such as after giving birth.
There are around 120,000 NHS hospital beds in England.
During the pandemic, hospitals were forced to cut bed capacity to ensure social distancing between patients.
Buildings also had to be divided into Covid and non-Covid areas in an attempt to reduce transmission to uninfected patients requiring hospital care.
There are around 120,000 NHS hospital beds in England. During the pandemic, hospitals were forced to cut their bed capacity to ensure social distancing between patients. Buildings also had to be divided into Covid and non-Covid areas in an attempt to reduce transmission to uninfected patients requiring hospital care
