Outpatients are a delicate balance

Philip Housden looks at the challenges of right-sizing the contribution of outpatient and diagnostic services within a PPU.

When asking ‘how big is the private patient unit (PPU)?’, most of us could be forgiven for responding with an answer stating how many beds there are on the designated private patient ward.

But that is a very ‘bed-centric’ view of what makes up a PPU.

It may be the ward that is most visible to the patient, but we all know there is a wide-ranging team effort required to deliver a safe, high-quality, clinical service.