Innovation: Patient hotels

Sweden, Norway and Finland

AAI Domain: Independent, healthy and secure living (access to health care services, physical safety)

Health care provision in hospitals across the developed world increasingly involves high levels of technology and skilled clinicians meaning that the daily cost of a patient staying in a hospital bed can be very high. Many health care systems face great pressure on hospital beds and if adequate arrangements for discharge are not in place then they can be occupied by patients who could be cared for in a lower cost environment.

Sweden faced a hospital bed shortage in the late 1980s and chose to develop an innovative solution, the patient hotel, to provide intermediate care between hospital and home. Patient hotels provide good quality accommodation that is available to patients, their relatives and the general public conveniently close to major hospitals. The staff include nurses, as well as usual hotel staff, and the focus is on patient recovery and well-being through being empowered to self-care.

Patients are encouraged to change their own bandages and dressings if they will have to do that at home in the future. There is also an emphasis on good quality nutritious food provided in the hotel restaurant to aid patients on the road to recovery. Most patient hotels are run by Norlandia, a private company that also provides social care services for children and older people. The company have reached contractual agreements with hospitals in Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Netherlands.

A key attraction of patients hotels are that they reduce the pressure on high cost hospital beds while providing a supportive environment for recovering patients to recuperate at a much lower cost while still being close to hospital facilities should they be needed. A systematic review found a lack of studies of patient hotels to assess their effects although patients consistently show high levels of satisfaction with them.

In relation to active ageing, patient hotels provided a novel form of access to health care services that reduced pressure on hospital beds and social care arrangements for people who need such provision after a stay in hospital. There are potential risks to patient’s physical safety if they are not fully able to cope at home after an episode of hospital care and patient hotels provide a form of intermediate care that has proven popular with patients and their families.

Given that the majority of patients treated by health care systems are older people there is a case for patient hotels to be more widely developed so that patients can recover in a safe and supportive environment. They may also offer a useful alternative for people who need to receive treatment on a regular out-patient basis, such as for people with cancer or dialysis, and who live far from the hospital.

Norlandia website