Government ‘should axe mixed-sex wards’

The Patients Association has urged the government to abolish mixed-sex wards in NHS hospitals immediately. This renewed call follows the publication of a report from the chief nursing officer regarding the continued use of such wards in the UK.

It has been claimed that NHS trusts may be unwilling to comply with requests for the sole use of single-sex wards unless doing so becomes a priority of the Department of Health, with the Patients Association stating that this is not the case at present.

Despite claims from the department last year that 99 per cent of NHS trusts are providing single-sex accommodation, the newly published report found that 16 per cent of acute trusts are having difficulties in doing so.

Earlier ministerial statements in January 2003 claimed a 95 per cent success rate in the provision of single-sex accommodation on NHS wards.

Katherine Murphy, director of communications at the Patients Association, said: “Patients have a right within the NHS to be treated in a safe environment with privacy, respect and dignity.”

She added that health secretary Patricia Hewitt had been “misinformed by her own staff” when reporting progress in the abolition of mixed wards in the NHS.