§ Mr. CritchleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when the practice of mixed-sex wards will be abandoned by the national health service. [15515]
§ Mr. SackvilleIt is for trusts and health authorities to decide for themselves how to use the resources available to them. However, we have recognised the problem and recently issued a revised and expanded patients charter which gives patients the right to be told, before they go into hospital, whether it is planned to care for them in a ward for men and women. In such cases they will be told how their dignity and privacy will be protected. In all cases they can expect single-sex washing and toilet facilities. If patients prefer to be cared for in single-sex accommodation—either a single-sex ward or a "bay" within a larger ward which offers equal privacy—their wishes will be respected wherever possible.
There may be some cases, particularly emergencies, where a hospital cannot provide single-sex accommodation. This is most likely to arise if a patient needs to be looked after by a specialist nurse in an intensive care ward or in an observation unit, It is also possible that single-sex accommodation may not be available at the time proposed for the patient's admission. If this is the case, the patient can choose between accepting immediate admission or waiting for single-sex accommodation to become available.
1034WThere is a difference between a mixed-sex ward, consisting of a number of single-sex bays with four to six patients in them, and a "Nightingale" type ward, which is suitable only for single-sex accommodation. We are phasing out these "Nightingale" wards and no new ones are being commissioned.