NHS breaks rules on mixed-sex wards 44,000 times in one year with patients at risk

Use of mixed rooms has gone through the roof after the number of men and women bedded next to each other soared to almost their highest level in a decade.

Official figures from NHS England show that the government’s strict rules against doing so were broken almost 5,000 times in February alone.

NHS leaders have expressed concern at the high number of breaches and warned that care that was unthinkable a decade ago is at risk of becoming the new normal.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said patients felt humiliated and at risk, adding: The use of mixed-sex wards has gone through the roof under the Tories.

The government banned mixed wards in the NHS in 2010. Under the guidance, patients would not have to share wards at night, share bathrooms or have to walk through areas occupied by patients of the opposite sex to get to toilets

When hospitals fail to comply with this, they must report this to the NHS. Only in very few circumstances is co-housing allowed, such as urgent admission to intensive care.

Despite promises made more than a decade ago to eliminate co-ed rooms, The Independent found:

The breaches are almost as high as the 4,929 breaches seen in February 2020, when Covid was ravaging the NHS and just weeks before ministers announced a nationwide lockdown to protect the health service, and the 4,938 seen last January.

Under the guidance, no mental health unit should have mixed wards. However, earlier this year, The Independent revealed that the practice is widespread, with more than 500 sexual assaults reported in almost half of NHS mental health hospitals in England.

In one case, patient Alexis Quinn described how she was placed in a male-only ward due to a shortage of beds at the time. She was later sexually assaulted while in the hallway by a male patient.

Another former patient, Rivkah Grant, was sexually assaulted by a mental health worker while in Barnet Hospital, then traumatized after being moved to a mixed ward just days later.

However, NHS England said the breach rate of how many times the rules were broken compared to health service employment was the same this February as in February 2020.

Streeting said the use of mixed wards could be directly linked to government cuts – women were forced to spend the night in wards alongside male patients 44,000 times last year, 20 times more than last year a decade

Patients often find this humiliating. Thanks to the research report of The Independentwe know that this is also leaving women particularly vulnerable and putting their safety at risk.

The rise in the number of breaches is a direct result of Tory cuts to hospital beds and their lack of training for NHS staff.

Earlier this year, after questions from The Independentthe Department of Health and Social Care said it planned to update guidance on mixed accommodation, but has yet to publish it.

Rory Deighton, from the NHS Confederation which represents hospital trusts, said the rise in breaches was a major concern for NHS leaders, but also a sign of the immense pressure they were under in the services for a long time.

He cited delays in patients being discharged from social care and bed occupancy being too high, with too many patients waiting too long for beds after being admitted from A&E, and this is leading to ‘attention to the corridor.

Staff are trying to mitigate safety risks day in and day out, but care that was unthinkable a decade ago risks becoming the new normal, he said.

NHS guidelines say patients should not share wards overnight with members of the opposite sex, except where appropriate.

The only exemptions are intensive care, end-of-life care and observation rooms where patients are only meant to be admitted for four hours and where treatment such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy is given.

The guide also says that on the rare occasion that mixing does occur, every effort should be made to rectify the situation as soon as possible.

Lynn Woolsey, UK deputy chief nurse at the Royal College of Nursing, said: High mixed-sex ward breaches tell the story of an NHS bursting at the seams, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. iceberg

Patients are routinely cared for in corridors and other inappropriate settings. Nursing staff describe instances of having to move non-essential equipment, such as vending machines, to place a bed with a patient. Patients deserve respect, privacy and dignity, and this is not the case.

Liberal Democrat health spokeswoman Daisy Cooper said: This is yet another broken promise by this government on the NHS. It shows that the Conservative Party simply cannot be trusted with our NHS.

Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said trust leaders are doing everything they can to avoid mixed accommodation.

But, he said, record levels of pressure and demand for beds mean, unfortunately, there will be times when this is not possible.

Last year, the then health secretary Steve Barclay announced a ban on transgender patients being housed in female-only and male-only wards on the NHS, telling the Tory party conference in Manchester : We know what a woman is.

However, he did not address the issue of the increase in mixed rooms.

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: We have been clear that patients should not share accommodation with others of the opposite sex and should have access to segregated bathrooms and toilets. We expect NHS trusts to comply with these measures.

They added that the government is making huge progress in reducing the overall waiting list while continuing to respect patients’ rights.