More Single Rooms

One of the things that people with health insurance enjoy most about private treatment is having the privacy of their own room when they have to go into hospital. The NHS have already started to pilot the introduction of single NHS rooms. The conservatives have recently claimed that if they get into power they intend to singnificantly increase single rooms within the NHS.

The Tory plans seem very ambitious considering the level of public debt that has to be repaid over the next few years. Spending plans in the NHS are likely to have to be reduced, not increased.

The plans to create an extra 45,000 single rooms in NHS hospitals has been estimated to cost £314m a year over five years but other estimates cost the changes at around £1,903m a year over the same period.

Although it has been shown that familiar company and communication with loved ones aids patient recovery, this does not apply to strangers on a ward. Being surrounded by strangers with only the privacy of a thin curtain when you are being examined by doctors is not conducive to relaxation and wellbeing.

Private healthcare has always allowed for a higher level of privacy and patient respect. Single rooms also allow for more confidentiality. Patients can talk more openly without fear of being overheard by fellow patients.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson said that at a hospital in North West London single rooms had been trialled and were popular with patients:

'It's a thumbs-up generally from the patients. This is an important experiment in how we can introduce single rooms into hospitals and get it right.'

Patients with medical insurance are already enjoying the many benefits of single rooms whilst they are in hospital. The benefits include:

• Better sleep
• Privacy
• Patient confidentiality
• Peace and quiet
• Reduced infection rates