What is the impact of single-bed patient rooms on nurse staffing requirements in general hospital units?

There is a growing interest in the potential benefits (or otherwise) from accommodating hospitalised patients in single patient bedrooms. While the NHS in England has been slow to adopt single bedroom accommodation and 100% single-bed facilities are rare, newer hospitals have higher proportions of such facilities and future new builds are likely to have wards that are solely single-patient bedrooms. Flexibility, meeting patient preferences and infection control are cited as key benefits, but the impact on nursing workload is unclear, with some concerns that wards with all single-bedded rooms require more staff to deliver safe and effective care. This review examines the empirical evidence for the impact on staffing requirements.