THE PITHINESS and political nous of the campaign for cystic fibrosis sufferers has done more than highlight their awful plight and extract official promises of improved provision. It has illustrated that even minor success in promoting the demands of specific service users requires steely determination and that, without leadership and resources, the champions of many patient and social categories will not be heard by the Government and the Health Service Executive.
With numerous disparate voices seeking funding, or even a listening ear, it is likely in the current economic environment that some smaller charities for specific illnesses may not survive though they have played a pivotal role in promoting the needs of ill people. Without them, service would be even more rickety.
In truth it will be many years before comfort, clinical expertise and safety in our hospitals can be guaranteed for all citizens. However, a pivotal change, and one that would offer hope to patients and medical staff, would be a firm commitment from the Government guaranteeing that all new hospital buildings have single rooms.
In this regard, the Hospice Friendly Hospitals programme has been encouraging the provision of more single rooms. In its design and dignity guidelines, it has highlighted the relationship between physical and sensory environment and healthcare outcomes. There is evidence that single rooms increase privacy, allow for more effective medical examinations, and facilitate reductions in hospital infections.
And single rooms reduce long-term costs, as has been outlined by Prof Roger Ulrich, of Texas AM University. At a number of meetings in Ireland, he has shown also that there is no evidence that single rooms prevent visual observation of patients and therefore worsen patient safety. Nor do they require higher nurse staffing levels. Single rooms facilitate sleep quality and reduce noise: studies have shown that up to 90 per cent of the time roommates are a source of stress – not comfort – to patients.
In the case of patients who are dying, single rooms are essential for a caring, careful death. They allow for an environment that is as near to home as possible. Quietness, privacy and access to family are the least to which a citizen is entitled. Indeed, the gaps in how we deal with dying are increasingly emerging in the Forum on End of Life being run by the Irish Hospice Foundation. Politicians must engage with these end-of-life issues and with the debate about single rooms for all patients.