Superhospital as a form of centralised medical care – a cure for contemporary problems in the healthcare sector or a utopian dream?

Contemporary Europe is struggling with an ageing population, staff shortages and many other issues that are causing healthcare systems to become inefficient. Denmark and the United Kingdom are examples of countries tackling contemporary problems in the healthcare sector through major reforms, resulting in the construction of new superhospitals, the centralisation of healthcare, and changes in the structure and functioning of hospitals. The aim of the study is to compare the approaches to the construction of superhospitals in Denmark and the United Kingdom in terms of common features and differences, advantages and disadvantages of this approach. Key elements were examined in order to address the question of whether the centralisation of medical care can be a solution to contemporary problems in the healthcare sector or whether it is merely a utopia. The three hospitals in Denmark and three in the United Kingdom examined in the case study present different approaches to the development of superhospitals, with both advantages and disadvantages. An analysis of their characteristics made it possible to identify the desirable features that are in line with contemporary design trends and scientific research. Some of the examples feature controversial solutions that, in various respects, do not fit in with the principles of humanising the hospital environment and the idea of a healing environment, which, combined with the controversies surrounding them, may bring to mind the characteristics of a utopia that generates serious problems. This last example allowed us to identify the features of a superhospital that are not conducive to solving contemporary problems. This should be taken into account in future hospital designs to avoid controversy and create a facility that is more human-scale, friendly and non-institutional, and more intimate than a monumental medical facility.