Should single rooms be the norm in hospitals? 

Multi-patient rooms are the status quo for New Zealand hospitals, with up to five people staying in each room. 

New research argues that this breaches safety and ethical concerns, saying that single patient rooms should be the most basic standard of care. 

Researcher and author Dr Cindy Towns told Kerre Woodham that while it may seem counterintuitive for single rooms to be as economical as multi-patient rooms, poor care costs money. 

She says that having multiple people in one room can create more room for infection to spread, and the inability to manage the environment completely can exacerbate some conditions.  

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