Having some Two Point Hospital tips at your disposal will help no end if you're getting into the medical business, trying to keep on top of everything and turn a profit. The simulation runs pretty deep in Two Point Hospital, so as well as building your wards and employing your staff, you'll need to keep everything running smoothly and ideally prevent your patients from dying while you balance the books. If you just throw everything together without any forethought then either your emergency room will become a disaster zone or you'll exhaust your funds and tumble in to debt, so follow our Two Point Hospital tips for PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC to give yourself the best start.
1. Take your time when building
Don't rush to build everything at once, or you'll end up backing yourself into a corner and running out of money. Start off with the basics, including a reception, GP office, pharmacy, staff room, and toilets, then hire a doctor, an assistant, a nurse, and a janitor. After that you can sit back and observe your patients' needs, then cater for them as they happen, which will allow you to build up gradually while maintaining a steady income.
Don't push to expand your campus until you have to, as that money could be better spent elsewhere – there will be larger rooms you need to construct eventually and at that point you can consider an expansion, but don't do it just for the sake of having more space until you need it.
2. Keep your rooms small
When building, stick to the minimum room size wherever possible so you get the maximum use out of the space available, and smaller rooms are much easier to improve the prestige of. Consider the layout of your hospital in advance, leaving space for corridors between rooms that are at least two construction squares wide, so people won't bump into each other (which slows them down) and rooms can still be reached easily.
You can always pick up and move rooms around by selecting them then choosing the Edit option, as well as increase or decrease their size by following the prompt at the top of the screen to switch between the + and - cursor.
3. Further your career
Keep an eye on your Career Goals in the top right corner of the screen, and work towards them wherever you can. These will improve your hospital rating, unlock new items you can place, and earn both cash and Kudosh Points which are used to unlock special items that will help you out as the game progresses.
4. Step up to the Challenge
Always take on Challenges when they come up, as they can earn you some bonus cash and Kudosh, as well as improving your hospital reputation. Be mindful of their time limits and make sure you focus on completing their tasks first, building extra rooms and redeploying/hiring additional staff if required to get the job done.
5. Increase your Prestige
Once you've started earning Kudosh, you should use some of it to unlock posters and paintings that are flagged to increase room prestige and hospital attractiveness. You can then place plenty of them in every room until you reach at least Prestige Level 3 - it's a cheap and easy shortcut to improving the overall rating of your hospital.
6. Watch what's happening
Look around and pay attention to what's happening in your hospital, to determine if you need to add extra facilities. If patients are standing around waiting for particular rooms then more seating is required nearby, so pop some additional benches outside. If there's rubbish piling up on the floor then add more bins, and if little 'accidents' are occurring then you definitely need to install some more toilets! You can also monitor your patients' needs through the Patients List from the bottom left menu to identify any problems brewing, or highlight people who need urgent attention so you can focus on them first.
7. Take a minute when you need to
Don't forget that you can pause time at any point if things are getting too hectic, giving you a chance to catch up on messages, review the overall situation in your hospital, and make decisions about what to do next without a time pressure against you. You can build, hire, place new items, and much more without worrying about any more patients flowing in. Conversely, if everything is under control then you can also speed up time, to get through patients quickly and rack up the cash without hanging around.
8. Keep track of your staff
Watch where your staff are, and check that you don't have rooms that are needed but aren't being staffed – you can tell by icons above the desks/machinery if they're waiting for someone to operate them because patients are queuing, or if the maximum queue size has been reached. Remember that you'll need to employ more staff than you have rooms for them to work in, to ensure that your employees can actually take breaks when needed without delaying treatments for your waiting patients.
9. Pick the right staff for the job
In the Staff menu under the Jobs tab, you can allocate what areas particular staff are allowed to work in. This means that if you have staff who are particularly qualified for a certain role, you can make sure they work in that area and don't wander off elsewhere, as well as stopping other less qualified staff from coming in. This will improve your diagnosis and treatment stats, which will increase the overall reputation of your hospital in the long run.
10. Keep your staff happy
Make sure you monitor your staff needs through the Staff menu, so you know that they're happy with their pay and are having their other personal needs met – making adjustments to their salary or what items available in the hospital if needed to balance things up. At any point you can pick up a member of staff, and drop them in a staff room to force them to take a break or into a room to make them work there.
11. Maintain your machinery
You can check the condition of your machines at any time by hovering the pointer over them, and you should make sure you hire enough janitors to keep them serviced, otherwise they could end up exploding which is the last thing you want. Install several fire extinguishers in each room that contains equipment, just so you're prepared should the worst happen.
12. Get an overview of your hospital
Use the icons on the Information tab to get an overview of various factors in your hospital, including its attractiveness, hygiene, and temperature. Temperature can be particularly important as you progress to later levels, so make sure you install heaters or air con units as required to keep the temperature in check. You only need to use the small heaters or coolers in smaller 3x3ish rooms, so save the bigger units for any large wards or corridors.
That should be enough help to get you up and running in your new hospital, but if you want to read more medical musings then here's how Two Point Hospital ALMOST had Alan Partridge as its resident DJ.
