This discussion is now closed.
Check out other Related discussions
- Are single-sex schools a thing of the past? Should they be abolished or not?
- NHS breaks mixed-sex ward rules with patients at risk of SA and humiliation
- sheff vs soton med
- kcl battersea
- Exeter Shared Bathroom
- Clinical Psychology Experience
- Mixed vs. Single Sex Accommodation?
- Slept with a hooker and worried I have herpes
- Single Sex Uni accommodation
- Are city accommodations always mixed gender?
- Problems on placement
- Sheffield accommodation
- Med application
- Should I appeal the panel decision to remove my registration? CONTEXT and conclusion
- Sports sci, physio, OT, or something else... which route for v mature student?
- West Mains Road Accomodation
- He said he was ok with casual. but didn't try anything sexual with me
- Muslim Guy with Issues
- Debate
- Paris 2024 Paralympics: Para-Rowing
Should mixed sex wards be abolished?
Significant numbers of hospital in-patients are still being treated in mixed sex accommodation, according to a Department of Health report.
Despite ministerial claims that 99% of NHS Trusts had abolished mixed sex wards, the report by the Chief Nursing Officer indicates that they still exist in many hospitals.
Campaigners say mixed-sex accommodation denies patients the chance of treatment with "privacy, respect and dignity".
The government has admitted that nearly 30 hospital trusts across England need more help to tackle mixed sex accommodation.
Responding to the report, Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt acknowledged that there is still more work for the NHS to do to eliminate mixed-sex accommodation wherever possible.
Have you been treated in a mixed sex ward? Should all hospital wards be single sex? Have previous ministerial claims been misleading? Send us your experiences?
Despite ministerial claims that 99% of NHS Trusts had abolished mixed sex wards, the report by the Chief Nursing Officer indicates that they still exist in many hospitals.
Campaigners say mixed-sex accommodation denies patients the chance of treatment with "privacy, respect and dignity".
The government has admitted that nearly 30 hospital trusts across England need more help to tackle mixed sex accommodation.
Responding to the report, Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt acknowledged that there is still more work for the NHS to do to eliminate mixed-sex accommodation wherever possible.
Have you been treated in a mixed sex ward? Should all hospital wards be single sex? Have previous ministerial claims been misleading? Send us your experiences?
Scroll to see replies
Reply 1
Yes, mixed sex wards should be abolished.
Reply 2
I volunteer in a hospital thats has mixed sex wards and I don't see the problem to be honest.
'Campaigners say mixed-sex accommodation denies patients the chance of treatment with "privacy, respect and dignity".'
unless their in a room on their own, their going to be near patients anyway regardless of their gender so I don't see how same sex wards change anything. It's not like they get dressed or undressed in full view, there is curtains for privacy.
I can understand to an extent why people would prefer same sex wards but it wouldn't bother me personally, as long as the treatment and care is of a good standard.
'Campaigners say mixed-sex accommodation denies patients the chance of treatment with "privacy, respect and dignity".'
unless their in a room on their own, their going to be near patients anyway regardless of their gender so I don't see how same sex wards change anything. It's not like they get dressed or undressed in full view, there is curtains for privacy.
I can understand to an extent why people would prefer same sex wards but it wouldn't bother me personally, as long as the treatment and care is of a good standard.
I was quite ill when I was younger, I had a few longish hospital stays on mixed wards, never bothered me. The thought never really crossed my mind tbh. Though this was roughly during the ages 10-13, so maybe I wasn't body conscious enough to care.
EDIT: This was at the Sick Kids hospital anyway.
EDIT: This was at the Sick Kids hospital anyway.
Reply 7
If your sick enough to be in hospital the sex of others is the least of your concerns, sure was mine. (although i was in a male only ward, may have felt different otherwise.)
dr_fred_bob
If your sick enough to be in hospital the sex of others is the least of your concerns, sure was mine. (although i was in a male only ward, may have felt different otherwise.)
That is true, however, I personally believe that a mixed ward situation is not entirely conducive to enabling patients to feel comfortable and so recover and be discharged back to their home life. Hence the recent Government initiatives to fund the restoration ofsingle sex wards in UK Hospitals.
So for non "HDU" patients I think that mixed wards should be abolished.
Reply 9
They should exist. It just depends upon the context, obviously.
Reply 10
Personally I prefer single-sex wards, they're easier to work on in my opinion. However, in smaller units, such as Coronary Care, High Dependency, or Intensive Care, then there isn't really any other option than to have males and females in beds next to each other.
Although, on every single mixed-sex ward I have ever been on, men and women were kept in separate bays, so they were never put together. There is nothing wrong with that, in my opinion.
Although, on every single mixed-sex ward I have ever been on, men and women were kept in separate bays, so they were never put together. There is nothing wrong with that, in my opinion.
Reply 11
They should be banned for all circumstances. except for HDU, Cardiac and serious trauma patients,where frankly the patient doesn't even know what day it is, let alone that they are in a mixed ward.
I worked as a HCA last Summer, and the vast majority of patients who were capable of voicing an opinion loathed them, as did the staff, (virtually all grades).
However would also depend on the standards generally adhered to in that particular Hospital.
I worked as a HCA last Summer, and the vast majority of patients who were capable of voicing an opinion loathed them, as did the staff, (virtually all grades).
However would also depend on the standards generally adhered to in that particular Hospital.
Reply 12
OK firstly whichever person wrote this article got it wrong. THe government/NHS claims that 99% of hospitals have single sex wards. This is very different from 99% of them having abolished mixed sex wards. You can have 1 out of 20 wards in your hospital single sex, and still claim you have single sex wards.
Ixzzy worked as a HCA, so can be excused for missing some key points.
She would have noticed that many wards these days are specialist. Whether 'surgical wards', respiratory wards, geriatric wards, orthopedic wards etc etc.
What is our priority? getting single sex wards, or putting people with similar conditions together so that the nurses/doctors looking after them can do so to a better degree. Nursing a person with COPD is a different skill to someone with a broken leg. quite distinctly so.
If people want single sex wards then they should be prerpared to see their local hospitals disappear and be swallowed up by massive hospitals dozens of miles away.
because think logically. if you havea ward with 20 beds - mixed hten at any point there is a bed a patient can be in it. if instead you have a single sex ward, then what if you have spare beds, but a run of male patients coming in rather than female? do you turn them away? cancel their surgeries?
hell no.
People also dont seem to grasp whata mixed ward is like. The old victorian wards of rows of beds are largely gone now (thank god), and are replaced by bays of about 4 beds per bay. each bay is in the vast vast majority of cases single sex. so a ward with 20 beds might have 4 bays - 2 male only, 2 female only, and then 4 single person side rooms (used either if there is someone of the wrong sex coming into the ward, or if there is someone with MRSA/C.diff)
I think the key thing the nhs/govt needs to do is improve nursing care, and simple things like having more toilets/bathing facilities on wards.
Ixzzy worked as a HCA, so can be excused for missing some key points.
She would have noticed that many wards these days are specialist. Whether 'surgical wards', respiratory wards, geriatric wards, orthopedic wards etc etc.
What is our priority? getting single sex wards, or putting people with similar conditions together so that the nurses/doctors looking after them can do so to a better degree. Nursing a person with COPD is a different skill to someone with a broken leg. quite distinctly so.
If people want single sex wards then they should be prerpared to see their local hospitals disappear and be swallowed up by massive hospitals dozens of miles away.
because think logically. if you havea ward with 20 beds - mixed hten at any point there is a bed a patient can be in it. if instead you have a single sex ward, then what if you have spare beds, but a run of male patients coming in rather than female? do you turn them away? cancel their surgeries?
hell no.
People also dont seem to grasp whata mixed ward is like. The old victorian wards of rows of beds are largely gone now (thank god), and are replaced by bays of about 4 beds per bay. each bay is in the vast vast majority of cases single sex. so a ward with 20 beds might have 4 bays - 2 male only, 2 female only, and then 4 single person side rooms (used either if there is someone of the wrong sex coming into the ward, or if there is someone with MRSA/C.diff)
I think the key thing the nhs/govt needs to do is improve nursing care, and simple things like having more toilets/bathing facilities on wards.
Jamie
OK firstly whichever person wrote this article got it wrong. THe government/NHS claims that 99% of hospitals have single sex wards. This is very different from 99% of them having abolished mixed sex wards. You can have 1 out of 20 wards in your hospital single sex, and still claim you have single sex wards.
Ixzzy worked as a HCA, so can be excused for missing some key points.
She would have noticed that many wards these days are specialist. Whether 'surgical wards', respiratory wards, geriatric wards, orthopedic wards etc etc.
What is our priority? getting single sex wards, or putting people with similar conditions together so that the nurses/doctors looking after them can do so to a better degree. Nursing a person with COPD is a different skill to someone with a broken leg. quite distinctly so.
If people want single sex wards then they should be prerpared to see their local hospitals disappear and be swallowed up by massive hospitals dozens of miles away.
because think logically. if you havea ward with 20 beds - mixed hten at any point there is a bed a patient can be in it. if instead you have a single sex ward, then what if you have spare beds, but a run of male patients coming in rather than female? do you turn them away? cancel their surgeries?
hell no.
People also dont seem to grasp whata mixed ward is like. The old victorian wards of rows of beds are largely gone now (thank god), and are replaced by bays of about 4 beds per bay. each bay is in the vast vast majority of cases single sex. so a ward with 20 beds might have 4 bays - 2 male only, 2 female only, and then 4 single person side rooms (used either if there is someone of the wrong sex coming into the ward, or if there is someone with MRSA/C.diff)
I think the key thing the nhs/govt needs to do is improve nursing care, and simple things like having more toilets/bathing facilities on wards.
Ixzzy worked as a HCA, so can be excused for missing some key points.
She would have noticed that many wards these days are specialist. Whether 'surgical wards', respiratory wards, geriatric wards, orthopedic wards etc etc.
What is our priority? getting single sex wards, or putting people with similar conditions together so that the nurses/doctors looking after them can do so to a better degree. Nursing a person with COPD is a different skill to someone with a broken leg. quite distinctly so.
If people want single sex wards then they should be prerpared to see their local hospitals disappear and be swallowed up by massive hospitals dozens of miles away.
because think logically. if you havea ward with 20 beds - mixed hten at any point there is a bed a patient can be in it. if instead you have a single sex ward, then what if you have spare beds, but a run of male patients coming in rather than female? do you turn them away? cancel their surgeries?
hell no.
People also dont seem to grasp whata mixed ward is like. The old victorian wards of rows of beds are largely gone now (thank god), and are replaced by bays of about 4 beds per bay. each bay is in the vast vast majority of cases single sex. so a ward with 20 beds might have 4 bays - 2 male only, 2 female only, and then 4 single person side rooms (used either if there is someone of the wrong sex coming into the ward, or if there is someone with MRSA/C.diff)
I think the key thing the nhs/govt needs to do is improve nursing care, and simple things like having more toilets/bathing facilities on wards.
Yes, all the above is true, and I think the problem is the mis-information spread about by certain *publications*, the concept of a *mixed* ward to the generla public, is precisely that, visions of semi -clad disorientated male patients, springs to mind.
The bay system seems to be under-reported in the media, after all sensationalism sells newspapers.
Ixzzy
They should be banned for all circumstances. except for HDU, Cardiac and serious trauma patients,where frankly the patient doesn't even know what day it is, let alone that they are in a mixed ward.
I worked as a HCA last Summer, and the vast majority of patients who were capable of voicing an opinion loathed them, as did the staff, (virtually all grades).
However would also depend on the standards generally adhered to in that particular Hospital.
I worked as a HCA last Summer, and the vast majority of patients who were capable of voicing an opinion loathed them, as did the staff, (virtually all grades).
However would also depend on the standards generally adhered to in that particular Hospital.
You're really supposed to give reasons for your opinions...
Reply 15
Tbh I would handle being on a mixed sex ward and have done so in the past cos as far as I'm concerned treatment is my main priority. I was last in hospital in Jan and the ward was mixed. However, it was majority women and I felt rather sorry for the men who were outnumbered. I think if I was on a ward that was majority men I'd feel a bit weird.
When I was in hospital 2yrs ago I was on an adult ward but it was all women in my section, which I was happier with as I was stuck in a gown for 3days and wouldn't have felt quite right parading in front of men all gowned up. Not sure why, perhaps modesty? Then when I was in hospital in Jan I was able to be dressed the day after my op but when they were changing my bandages I was rather nervous as they couldn't properly draw the curtains around me; that was more a curtain problem than men, heh, but it's a bigger deal for me if I'm exposed to men than to other women [that is, as patients. I have no preference on the gender of my doctors].
Anyways, I can understand why some people would feel more comfortable on single sex wards. However, I also see the practicalities of mixed wards. In principle I support simply getting patients seen and treated, but would prefer the effort to place people with others of the same sex by and large and where possible. Baby steps tho
When I was in hospital 2yrs ago I was on an adult ward but it was all women in my section, which I was happier with as I was stuck in a gown for 3days and wouldn't have felt quite right parading in front of men all gowned up. Not sure why, perhaps modesty? Then when I was in hospital in Jan I was able to be dressed the day after my op but when they were changing my bandages I was rather nervous as they couldn't properly draw the curtains around me; that was more a curtain problem than men, heh, but it's a bigger deal for me if I'm exposed to men than to other women [that is, as patients. I have no preference on the gender of my doctors].
Anyways, I can understand why some people would feel more comfortable on single sex wards. However, I also see the practicalities of mixed wards. In principle I support simply getting patients seen and treated, but would prefer the effort to place people with others of the same sex by and large and where possible. Baby steps tho
Reply 16
Jamie
OK firstly whichever person wrote this article got it wrong. THe government/NHS claims that 99% of hospitals have single sex wards. This is very different from 99% of them having abolished mixed sex wards. You can have 1 out of 20 wards in your hospital single sex, and still claim you have single sex wards.
Ixzzy worked as a HCA, so can be excused for missing some key points.
She would have noticed that many wards these days are specialist. Whether 'surgical wards', respiratory wards, geriatric wards, orthopedic wards etc etc.
What is our priority? getting single sex wards, or putting people with similar conditions together so that the nurses/doctors looking after them can do so to a better degree. Nursing a person with COPD is a different skill to someone with a broken leg. quite distinctly so.
If people want single sex wards then they should be prerpared to see their local hospitals disappear and be swallowed up by massive hospitals dozens of miles away.
because think logically. if you havea ward with 20 beds - mixed hten at any point there is a bed a patient can be in it. if instead you have a single sex ward, then what if you have spare beds, but a run of male patients coming in rather than female? do you turn them away? cancel their surgeries?
hell no.
People also dont seem to grasp whata mixed ward is like. The old victorian wards of rows of beds are largely gone now (thank god), and are replaced by bays of about 4 beds per bay. each bay is in the vast vast majority of cases single sex. so a ward with 20 beds might have 4 bays - 2 male only, 2 female only, and then 4 single person side rooms (used either if there is someone of the wrong sex coming into the ward, or if there is someone with MRSA/C.diff)
I think the key thing the nhs/govt needs to do is improve nursing care, and simple things like having more toilets/bathing facilities on wards.
Ixzzy worked as a HCA, so can be excused for missing some key points.
She would have noticed that many wards these days are specialist. Whether 'surgical wards', respiratory wards, geriatric wards, orthopedic wards etc etc.
What is our priority? getting single sex wards, or putting people with similar conditions together so that the nurses/doctors looking after them can do so to a better degree. Nursing a person with COPD is a different skill to someone with a broken leg. quite distinctly so.
If people want single sex wards then they should be prerpared to see their local hospitals disappear and be swallowed up by massive hospitals dozens of miles away.
because think logically. if you havea ward with 20 beds - mixed hten at any point there is a bed a patient can be in it. if instead you have a single sex ward, then what if you have spare beds, but a run of male patients coming in rather than female? do you turn them away? cancel their surgeries?
hell no.
People also dont seem to grasp whata mixed ward is like. The old victorian wards of rows of beds are largely gone now (thank god), and are replaced by bays of about 4 beds per bay. each bay is in the vast vast majority of cases single sex. so a ward with 20 beds might have 4 bays - 2 male only, 2 female only, and then 4 single person side rooms (used either if there is someone of the wrong sex coming into the ward, or if there is someone with MRSA/C.diff)
I think the key thing the nhs/govt needs to do is improve nursing care, and simple things like having more toilets/bathing facilities on wards.
I have quoted your entire post, because it is good in parts and patronising in others. I worked as an HCA last Summer, and it was a real insight into the workings of the NHS, in a poorly regarded Hospital btw, EVERY patient I encountered who was compus mentis, LOATHED, mixed wards.
Common practice was to care for patients in an inclusive manner, ie male/female patients were nursed in groups of 4 (same sex) in an open ward, of course, people suffering from similar conditions were grouped together, how pompous of you to suggest that an HCA wouldn't have had the wit to determine that , I'm presuming from the tone of your post taht you are a FY1/2?
The logistics of bathing, toileting, and personal care were so compromised by the fact that patients were required to, eg use a bedpan, whilst alongside them would be a patient of the oppposite sex, no wonder that all wards carried huge supplies of lactulose.
So on the grounds that the practice of mixed sex wards in Hospitals, is a negative factor in promoting good recovery and therefore greater "bed blocking", by patients who are not recovering as quickly and as comfortably as they should, mixed wards should be banned except in HDU, cardio and critical care circumstances.
Reply 17
Ixzzy
So on the grounds that the practice of mixed sex wards in Hospitals, is a negative factor in promoting good recovery and therefore greater "bed blocking", by patients who are not recovering as quickly and as comfortably as they should, mixed wards should be banned except in HDU, cardio and critical care circumstances.
So on the grounds that the practice of mixed sex wards in Hospitals, is a negative factor in promoting good recovery and therefore greater "bed blocking", by patients who are not recovering as quickly and as comfortably as they should, mixed wards should be banned except in HDU, cardio and critical care circumstances.
Have you any evidence/research papers suggesting that patients clinically do worse in mixed sex wards? Or that the effect of making wards single sex over weighs the effect of increased nursing experience in specific areas + flexibility with bed occupancy. especially given that in your summer of experience as an HCA you would have noted the near maximal occupancy on the ward.
Ixzzy
I have quoted your entire post, because it is good in parts and patronising in others. I worked as an HCA last Summer, and it was a real insight into the workings of the NHS, in a poorly regarded Hospital btw, EVERY patient I encountered who was compus mentis, LOATHED, mixed wards.
Common practice was to care for patients in an inclusive manner, ie male/female patients were nursed in groups of 4 (same sex) in an open ward, of course, people suffering from similar conditions were grouped together, how pompous of you to suggest that an HCA wouldn't have had the wit to determine that , I'm presuming from the tone of your post taht you are a FY1/2?
The logistics of bathing, toileting, and personal care were so compromised by the fact that patients were required to, eg use a bedpan, whilst alongside them would be a patient of the oppposite sex, no wonder that all wards carried huge supplies of lactulose.
.
Common practice was to care for patients in an inclusive manner, ie male/female patients were nursed in groups of 4 (same sex) in an open ward, of course, people suffering from similar conditions were grouped together, how pompous of you to suggest that an HCA wouldn't have had the wit to determine that , I'm presuming from the tone of your post taht you are a FY1/2?
The logistics of bathing, toileting, and personal care were so compromised by the fact that patients were required to, eg use a bedpan, whilst alongside them would be a patient of the oppposite sex, no wonder that all wards carried huge supplies of lactulose.
.
The logistics..?
Mmm k. Well most mixed wards have toilets, and HCAs to help patients get to toilets. For those patients who can't get that far, there are commodes. For those unable even to get out of bed, bedpans. All have curtains to go around the bed for 'privacy' how much privacy is it reallY? not alot.
but it is very rare these days to have a mixed 'bay' in a hospital. they exist, but are less and less common. so the people in that room are of the same sex.
yes its highly embarrasing. i certainly didn't appreciate it whn in hospital having to pee knowing that some nurse or someone could bumble through the curtain at any time.
But i don't think its right to intrinsically link that to having members of the opposite sex on the ward.
So is it pompous of me to suggest that you haven't the wit to understand this issue?
perhaps. but you obviously still haven't grasped it.
I was on a mixed sex ward for several days.
IF you;re ill enought o stay over ngiht in a hospital, the sex of the other epople is the elast of your concerned.
I was much mroe concerned about how I was seriously injured than the other people.
If you ahve enough time to complain, you;re not ill enough
IF you;re ill enought o stay over ngiht in a hospital, the sex of the other epople is the elast of your concerned.
I was much mroe concerned about how I was seriously injured than the other people.
If you ahve enough time to complain, you;re not ill enough
Related discussions
- Are single-sex schools a thing of the past? Should they be abolished or not?
- NHS breaks mixed-sex ward rules with patients at risk of SA and humiliation
- sheff vs soton med
- kcl battersea
- Exeter Shared Bathroom
- Clinical Psychology Experience
- Mixed vs. Single Sex Accommodation?
- Slept with a hooker and worried I have herpes
- Single Sex Uni accommodation
- Are city accommodations always mixed gender?
- Problems on placement
- Sheffield accommodation
- Med application
- Should I appeal the panel decision to remove my registration? CONTEXT and conclusion
- Sports sci, physio, OT, or something else... which route for v mature student?
- West Mains Road Accomodation
- He said he was ok with casual. but didn't try anything sexual with me
- Muslim Guy with Issues
- Debate
- Paris 2024 Paralympics: Para-Rowing
Latest
Trending
Last reply 3 months ago
Mums furious after photo firm offers to delete kids in wheelchairs from school picsLast reply 3 months ago
Poundland drafts in advisors amid discounter crisis
