National Nursing Research Unit receives funding to continue next stage of innovative study

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has awarded over £370,000 to the National Nursing Research Unit (NNRU) at King’s College London for a study to look at the impact of different types of hospital accommodation on both the patient and the clinical workforce. The funding, which comes from the newly formed NIHR Health Service and Delivery Research programme, will enable researchers to compare ‘traditional’ facilities, including  primarily open plan wards, with a newly built hospital in which all accommodation is in single rooms.

The research team, made up of researchers from King’s College London, Imperial College London and the University of Southampton, will be led by Professor Jill Maben, Director of the NNRU.

“We are delighted to have secured funding to take forward the next phase of this important project. The first NHS hospital in England to have 100% single inpatient rooms opened in 2011. The government and the NHS are keen to increase the amount of single room accommodation available in hospitals because of the perceived benefits for patients, staff and overall healthcare outcomes. This research will investigate what advantages and disadvantages there may be in increasing the number of single rooms in hospitals, comparing the new hospital with the old buildings. We will also be comparing key metrics, such as infection rates, with those in other hospitals which have not moved to new accommodation.”

This study builds on existing research, which was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and carried out by the same team, led by Professor Maben and the National Nursing Research Unit, in collaboration with the Health and Care Infrastructure Research and Innovation Centre (HACIRIC) at Imperial College London. The project will look at the “before and after” effects of the move to single-room accommodation on issues such as care processes, costs and staff and patient experiences. The researchers will focus on four specific case studies – postnatal care; acute assessment unit; acute general surgery and elderly care.

Professor Maben continued:

“This project is particularly innovative because it is the first longitudinal study to be undertaken using a new build hospital ‘in real time’. It will answer significant questions for healthcare generally and the NHS in particular and will generate robust evidence on which to base future hospital re-design decisions.”

For more information contact:
Allie Johnstone
Communications Officer
Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery, King’s College London
T: 020 7848 3062
E: allie.johnstone@kcl.ac.uk