Should mixed sex wards be abolished?

And after they ban mixed sex wards will they change it so that only female drs and nurses can care for female patients? It's hospital, it really doesn't matter if there is a male or female in the bed next to you.

I agree that grouping patients according to condition is obviously in general a good idea in terms of quality and specificity of care, and having wards with small bays/wards split into two 'ends' according to gender seems to be a good solution.
However, in the hospital I volunteer in, many of the bays have people of both genders. I do not quite understand how people think that this is not a problem for many patients. While there are curtains for privacy, it is not possible for everyone to have them drawn all the time - nurses need to be able to see them etc.
Only this morning I was talking to an elderly compos mentis very polite lady in a bed opposite an elderly (clearly quite ill) gentleman who was sprawled asleep on his bed, having kicked the bedclothes off, wearing only an open pyjama top. This was not a pleasant view for the lady. The gentleman was clearly too ill to draw the curtains himself (and was presumable under observation anyway) as, I assume, was the lady, who also did not want to be excluded from everything going on around her, like people to talk to.

I can see that the logistics of single-sex wards are complex, and on some occasions it would be impossible, but from what I have seen, more of an effort could perhaps be made.

OK, I'll spell it out very simply for those that are seemingly unable to grasp this.

There are 3 varients on a ward.
1) Mixed sex - sex is ignored when allocating beds, such that you may be next to someone of the opposite sex. These are very rare nowaday because most wards now aren't made up of rows of beds, but instead are made up of bays with 4-6 people in each bay. each ward has multiple bays.
In 'number 1' format, each bay is mixed sex.

2) Mixed sex - single sex bays. This is by far the most common arrangement nowadays. You DON'T end up sleeping in a bed next to someone of the opposite sex, but there are memebers of the opposite sex on the ward. So you may run into them whilst walking about, ging to the loo/shower etc.

3) Single sex wards. Each ward is entirely one sex. These are rather rare outside of certain specialties (gynae wards and obstetric wards of course!) because it is far better to base wards on medical/surgical types than on gender.


Now i disagree with the type 1 arrangement - which is something darzona has come across. but i think alot of people have misconceptions about 'mixed sex wards', not helped by certain 'staff' mouthing off, or arsey patients.
Hospitals are awful places to stay. you might find that you ar ein a bay with some demented old lady who screams sporodically day and night. Or a feverish person who keeps whipping their covers off.
but thats what a 'free health system' entails.

I'd like free Sky TV in every room too, but it's not going to happen.

I got Freeview but I had to pay even just to watch basic 5 channels! £3.50 a day, fortunately I was only in for one night but I bet that'd soon rack up!

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.

When they sort out more pressing issues that require time, effort and money, like... stopping people dying, then change the sex of the wards - but is this really a priority? I'd like free Sky TV in every room too, but it's not going to happen.

Yeah, but a doctor/nurse and a fellow patient are different. One is trained to deal with people, the human anatomy, they deal with people in all physical and personal situations every day that they become a neutral entity. Whereas a fellow patient is just that, a patient, and so some people may not want the potential to be 'exposed' in some way to them.

Not really against mixed wards, just putting across that side

Yeah, but in both situations it is ridiculous to start banning.

You had to pay?! Was it a private tv?

Yeah it was, rather than there being one tv per bay, every patient had a tiny tv screen and phone, but had to pay for the privilege! I'd love to know where the revenue from that goes - that could provide a lot of funds for the hospital, but I suspect it's going to some fat cat entertainment provider!