A hotel for patients' families was opened in the Falkiewicz Hospital in Brochów last weekend. The hotel is located in the first floor, right next door to the Obstetrics Ward. The facility can accommodate 12 people in four different rooms. It also offers a bathroom with a shower and a small kitchen annex with a fridge. Guests can also use hospital catering. The first guest, a mother from outside of Wroclaw, was served on Thursday.
"The families of our patients who come from outside of Wroclaw will now be able to sleep in suitable conditions. Those family members who do not live in the city and would like to be with their loved one at all times can also use our rooms," says Krystyna Kizińska, Deputy Nursing and Obstetrics Director at the Brochów hospital. Formerly, it was much more difficult. Mothers of hospitalised children would use empty beds at the wards to stay for the night.
Guests may make a donation for using the room. "Guests can choose the amount and make a donation to the Lower Silesian Foundation for Health Care Development with the note "Brochów". This will help us to equip the hotel better and to raise its service standards because the décor is now quite crude and we still need furniture and household appliances," admits Krystyna Kizińska. It was known long ago that patients' families needed somewhere to stay, but the hospital had no rooms to provide suitable accommodation. Only after extensive renovation last year was it possible to convert former laboratory premises into a hotel. The renovation and furnishings were financed by the Lower Silesian Foundation for Health Care Development in collaboration with the hospital. The sponsor, i.e. LG, donated modern fridges, DVD players and stereo systems which, apart from the hotel, were also installed in a lounge for children and antenatal class.
The Falkiewicz Hospital is the second to have offered rooms for patients' families. In autumn 2013 and for the same reasons, a small hotel for families of the patients hospitalised at SPSK1 (known as the "clinic") was established. The hotel is located in the second floor of the Gynaecology and Obstetrics Hospital in ul Chałubińskiego. And it is quite popular with guests. "There periods when we are fully booked," says Violetta Magiera, Patients' Ombudsman at SPSK1. The hotel provides accommodation to husbands of expectant mothers admitted to the hospital.
The hotel offers two triple rooms and one double room. Each room has a bathroom and a toilet. Additionally, the guests can also use a small lounge with a mini kitchen annex which is fitted with a fridge, kettle and basic kitchen utensils to prepare a meal. The stay costs 35 PLN per night.
Photographs: Tomasz Walków
