Pressure grows for end to mixed-sex hospital wards

Protests were growing last night over the NHS's failure to eliminate mixed-sex wards, almost a decade after the Labour government pledged to phase them out.

A diary of the final days of a cancer patient Patricia Balsom, published in The Independent last week, in which she painted a harrowing picture of her care in a mixed-sex ward in Hillingdon Hospital, north London, triggered demands for change.

The breakfast television programme GMTV was besieged by callers yesterday after Ms Balsom's sister, The Independent on Sunday columnist Janet Street-Porter, spoke about the indignity she had suffered. Ms Balsom, who died last week, had described in her diary how she had woken to find the man opposite standing at the foot of his bed masturbating.

Others have suffered even worse experiences. A 73-year-old woman was assaulted on a mixed-sex ward by Bernard Bush, a convicted rapist, after he was put in a bed next to her in St George's Hospital, south London.

Despite government pledges in the 1997 and 2001 Labour manifestos to phase out mixed-sex wards, thousands of patients are still being cared for alongside members of the opposite sex.

A target set in 2000 to eliminate mixed-sex wards in almost all health authorities by the end of 2002 was missed and the date extended to 2004. But in a survey published last month, the Healthcare Commission, the NHS watchdog, found one in five patients said they had to share a room or bay with patients of the opposite sex at some point during their hospital stay. In some hospitals, up to two thirds of patients were cared for on mixed-sex wards, it said.

Janet Hollis, 67, of Stansted, Essex, still recalls the experience of visiting her 96-year-old mother, who died in Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, last year, with a shudder. "Having men wandering around in a state of undress is not what you hope to see," Ms Hollis said. "When you are in hospital you are at your lowest ebb. You need privacy to protect your dignity. The blame lies with the Government and its targets. It is all tied up with the closing of wards and the cutting of staff. It seems as if nothing is being done. It is appalling."

The health department said almost all hospitals were now operating single-sex wards. A spokeswoman said: "Our latest figures show that 99 per cent of NHS trusts provide single-sex sleeping accommodation and enforce robust policies to protect patients' privacy and dignity. There are a small number of trusts with outdated buildings who are rebuilding their hospitals that find our targets challenging. We are aware of these and recognise that they have more to do before they can achieve the high standards we all want."

The discrepancy with the Healthcare Commission's findings came down to differences of definition, she said. A curtain drawn between two bays on the same ward can define each as single sex, but patients may perceive it as mixed.

Observation wards for emergency patients, where they can be monitored for 24 to 48 hours, and intensive care units are routinely mixed sex and are not included in the official figures.

A spokeswoman for Hillingdon Hospital said Ms Balsom had been admitted to an observation ward when the alleged incident with the man opposite took place. The trust had no mixed-sex wards by the accepted definition, she said.

Addenbrookes Hospital said single-sex bays were provided on all wards and "great progress" had been made in upgrading accommodation to provide single-sex toilets and bathrooms.

A senior NHS official said high hospital occupancy rates driven by the tough waiting list targets was exacerbating the problem. "If you have an occupancy rate of 95 per cent, it is much more difficult to fit new patients into the right place," the official said. "Lower occupancy gives you more flexibility."

Katherine Murphy, of the Patients Association, said that judging by calls to their helpline, the number of patients in mixed-sex wards is on the increase.

"We know patients are still being cared for on mixed-sex wards, and this is a broken promise of the Government," she said. "Being in hospital can be a stressful experience, and this can be heightened by the indignity of staying on a mixed-sex ward."