Switzerland welcomes first patient hotel

Each room will be designed to accommodate patients with reduced mobility. Keystone

Convalescing hospital patients will soon be able to enjoy the security of medical supervision with the comfort of a three-star hotel.

In autumn 2016, the Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) will open 114 rooms to patients and their families at a “patient hotel” – the first of its kind in Switzerland. Work on the two-building, 8,000 square metre facility began on Monday.

The hotel will house CHUV patients who no longer require acute hospital treatment but who still need medical supervision and cannot yet return home. It will cater mainly to orthopaedic, paediatric and obstetric patients.

The patient hospital model has existed for about 25 years in Scandinavian countries and has more recently appeared in Germany and Britain.

CHUV will remain in charge of patient care at the new site, which will be located close to the hospital itself and provide 24-hour medical supervision. Vaudois insurance Retraites Populaires is providing CHF33 million ($35.6 million) in financing, and the facility itself will be run by private company Reliva Patienthotel, which has signed a 35-year lease.

While patients’ friends and family will be welcome at the hotel, they will have to pay their own way at around CHF300 a night.

One of the greatest anticipated benefits of the new facility is the freeing up of significant space in the hospital itself. With 50 job openings anticipated, there should also be less pressure on the medical staff at CHUV.