Outrage over ward U-turn
The Government's U-turn on its pledge to scrap mixed-sex wards sparked fury today as new data revealed men and women in hospitals in the Black Country and Staffordshire were being forced to share.
The Government's U-turn on its pledge to scrap mixed-sex wards sparked fury today as new data revealed men and women in hospitals in the Black Country and Staffordshire were being forced to share.
Figures show The Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust and Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Trust do not have segregated washing and toilet facilities for patients on all wards.
And the Dudley trust and Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust still have mixed-sex wards.
Mid Staffordshire General Hospitals NHS Trust has reported receiving complaints about mixed-sex accommodation in the past year.
The data obtained by the Tories in a Freedom of Information request to which 82 out of 182 acute trusts responded, also revealed 73 trusts provided single-sex accommodation in partitioned bays.
Campaigners have reacted angrily to health minister Lord Darzi's admission that Labour's 1997 promise to abolish mixed-sex treatment by 2002 was "not achievable".
In a Lords debate yesterday, he said the Government was committed to single-sex accommodation – not wards – and that the only way to ensure each ward was single-sex would be to rebuild every hospital.
The Patients' Association accused ministers of "throwing in the towel" on their manifesto pledge.
Kate Jopling of Help The Aged said mixed wards remained a growing concern for elderly patients who may find the experience "distressing".
"Dignity in care should be paramount, and privacy goes hand-in-hand with this," she said.
Ministers were insisting as recently as November 2006 that 99 per cent of wards were single-sex.
But patient surveys have cast doubt over these claims.
A Department for Health spokeswoman said: "Lord Darzi's comments were fully in line with the Government's long-standing commitment on mixed-sex accommodation.
"The aim of the NHS is to reduce mixed-sex accommodation. But sometimes the need to treat and admit will take priority over complete segregation.
"The NHS will not turn patients away because the 'right sex' bed is not immediately available."
By Sunita Patel
