Patients forced to sleep on mixed-sex NHS wards TREBLES

More than 9,000 patients have been forced to sleep in mixed sex wards in the last 12 months, figures reveal.

This number has almost trebled in two years despite a Government promise to end the scandal.

In July alone a total of 908 patients were put on mixed sex wards, an average of 205 every week.

This is the second highest rate since October – only January was worse at 1,036 patients.

The Government had promised to finally abolish the ‘wards of shame’ in 2010 following a long-running Daily Mail campaign.

In July alone a total of 908 patients were put on mixed sex wards – around 205 every week

Experts say they are dehumanising and frightening for patients, particularly the elderly or those from certain religions.

Previous pledges to tackle the issue 

In fact previous Labour and Tory governments had pledged to tackle the issue since the early 1990s.

But although the number patients sleeping in the wards initially fell after 2010, they have since climbed to a five year high.

Many hospitals are so full that patients are being put wherever there is a bed, regardless of whether it is a ward for the other sex.

Figures published by NHS England yesterday show there were 9,004 mixed sex ‘breaches’ in the last 12 months including 908 in July.

This compares to 5,830 for the same period in 2015/16 and just 3,309 in 2014/15.

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A breach refers one patient sleeping in a ward intended for the opposite sex for one night although intensive care or high dependency units don’t count.

‘A scandalous rise’ 

Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary Norman Lamb said: ‘Under Theresa May’s watch, we’ve seen a scandalous rise in the number of patients being forced to stay in mixed-sex wards.

‘Men and women should never have to share hospital wards, it’s an affront to basic human dignity.

‘The Conservatives once pledged to end mixed-sex wards, now it seems they’ve given up.

THE RETURN OF MIXED WARDS 

The number of patients placed on mixed-sex wards has soared by 70 per cent in a single year despite the Government promise to end the practice, it was revealed in January.

More than 7,100 patients were put on the controversial wards in 2016 as the NHS grappled with rising demand and intense pressure on AE services.

That was 70 per cent higher than the number in 2015 and three times higher than in 2014, the figures revealed.

Ministers had pledged to end the undignified practice in 2010 but it is becoming increasingly common once more as the NHS struggles to cope. 

Health officials said hospitals were so ‘exceptionally busy’, patients were being put wherever there was room.

The Government announced a crackdown on the practice in 2010 following a Daily Mail campaign, and introduced a fining system the following year.

Hospitals must now pay out £250 for every mixed-sex breach – defined as a night spent by a patient on a mixed-sex ward. 

‘It’s time to end the continued underfunding of the NHS and care that is putting intolerable pressure on services and leading to these sorts of failures.

‘The Government must recommit to closing mixed-sex wards instead of turning a blind eye.’

Collapse in patient standards 

Justin Madders MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Minister, said: ‘Theresa May’s first year as Prime Minister has been characterised by a collapse in patient standards, with hospital bursting at the seams and wards overstretched.

‘This latest unprecedented failure on mixed sex wards has left thousands more patients humiliated and lacking the basic dignity and respect they expect when being treated in hospital.

‘Shockingly, the Prime Minister even abandoned her party’s manifesto commitment to eliminate mixed sex accommodation breaches. Unlike the Tories, Labour will end the unacceptable practice of mixed sex wards and ensure our health service receives the funding it urgently needs.’

Promises to end the scandal 

Former Tory Health Secretary Virginia Bottomley first promised to end mixed sex wards in 1994, after a Daily Mail campaign.

The Labour government repeated the pledges in 1999 and 2002 before finally admitting the task was ‘unachievable’ in 2008.

Then in 2010, the then Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said he would axe them by the end of the year.

All patients deserve dignity 

A Department of Health spokesman said: ‘All patients deserve to be treated with dignity and respect while in the care of the NHS and men and women shouldn’t be forced to share hospital accommodation.

‘Whilst this month has seen slight increases, since 2010 mixed-sex accommodation breaches are down from almost 12,000 a month to less than 1,000 in July this year.’

A spokesman for NHS Improvement, the hospital regulator, said: ‘While there are circumstances – such as the need to treat patients in an emergency – where patients might be in mixed wards or bays, the NHS is committed to continue to reduce the number of patients treated in mixed sex accommodation. We expect that breaches are monitored at organisational level and plans put in place to deal with the problem.

‘Any rise – no matter how small – in the number of people being treated in mixed sex accommodation is obviously disappointing.’