DoH announces mixed sex penalties

Hospital accommodation which mixes sexes will be financially penalised from next year, the Department of Health (DoH) has revealed.

Announced by health secretary Alan Johnson, the measure will mean locations found treating patients in such circumstances will not be paid for care, unless there is an overriding clinical justification.

Guidance by the DoH states men and women should not have to share toilet facilities or sleeping accommodation.

Mr Johnson said people often feel at their most vulnerable when they are in hospital.

“Being cared for in mixed-sex accommodation can be deeply distressing,” he continued, adding the measures “will help to ensure that patients can be treated with the dignity and privacy they rightly expect”.

Another part of the initiative will see improvement teams dispatched to hospitals that require help over the next six months.

Earlier this month, the health bill was published and announced new measures that will allow for direct payments for healthcare to patients.