Author Description

The purpose of this report is to identify the potential benefits and constraints of accommodating suitable patients in a patient hotel as an alternative to a hospital ward and to assist managers and clinicians in deciding whether to invest in such facilities. The key conclusions of the report is that where a patient hotel can be justified and has the support of clinicians, it provides a quality alternative to ward care and benefits both patients and the hospital. If satisfactory levels of utilisation are achieved, it will also save up to 45 per cent of the hotel costs incurred on conventional wards. The report draws on the operational experience of the patient hotel at University Hospital, Lund in Sweden. There are no operational patient hotels in the UK so the report looks at the circumstances in which plans for patient hotels are going ahead in the UK and provides some examples of local progress. Alternatives to patient hotels are also examined, including wards or hostels, which have been adapted by some NHS hospitals to cater for certain groups of low dependency patients