To think most women would prefer to be on a single-sex ward as hospital in patients?

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

This was debated in the House of Lords in the early hours today.

I'm not up to speed on this so I don't know how many single-sex wards there are in the NHS. I know it's been promised again and again but for various reasons, mostly I expect to do with money, it doesn't always happen. Now there's the additional headache of trans-identifying patients to factor in, many of whom won't have made many (or any) changes to their bodies.

My hunch is that most of us (male and female), given the choice, would prefer to be in a single-sex ward when stuck in bed with a flimsy gown on and all sorts of undignified and painful things going on with our bodies.

Am I right?

YABU - who cares, mixed sex is fine
YANBU - yes, I would prefer hospital wards to be single-sex

OP, it doesn’t matter how many women reply to your survey on here and say they don’t object to having strange men around when they are undressed, ill, vulnerable and asleep.
What matters is that single sex wards must be retained- for all the women who DO object.
That may include Muslims, Orthodox Jews, rape victims, frail elderly women and women who quite rightly want their privacy, safety and dignity respected in hospital.

@SevenWaystoLeave

Couldn't care less. I spent a hospital stay on a mixed sex ward, it's difficult not having privacy sometimes but that isn't impacted by the gender of the person in the bed next to you, and everyone is in the same boat anyway. If a trans person is in hospital it's because they're sick and vulnerable too. As for what parts they have, how would you even know, you're not actually ever going to see them naked even with the lack of privacy on wards.

Bit naive there. There are reports of males taking this opportunity to display their anatomy for women patients to see. Lady Nicholson has a report of a woman raped on a hospital ward, unfortunately.

last time I stayed in hospital - on a gynae ward - kept awake by patients husbands chattering away all night.

@BarrowInFurnessRailwayStation

When people say 'mixed wards' are there dedicated single sex bays or could you literally be in a bed opposite a man (if you're a woman)?

There is no way I'd cope with that. I'd discharge myself.

That is how the admissions ward was, I was in a bay of 6 people and 5 were male. Apart from the obvious women only gynae/maternity wards, most wards are mixed sex, like say orthopaedics, but you have a bay of women then a bay of men, so they are separate that way

New hospitals built with single rooms and ensuite are the future. Better to recover, better for infection control.

I'd totally freak out if I was sharing the space with men. I have very good reason not to be able to tolerate this.

When I was admitted I was told that the women's MUA ward was full I that I needed to go to the men's MUA ward for one night, this didn't bother me as I was floating on a sublime morphine cloud. There were 2 men on the ward, one an elderly man and the other was a prisoner chained to his bed and accompanied by a prison guard. The hospital kept its word and space on a woman's ward was found the following day.
A few weeks later I was moved to a side room, due to complications, which had a large window overlooking a men's ward across the a corridor. The man in the bed closest to my room leered at me the whole time, the whole experience was very menacing, I placed my bag across the door so that if I did sleep hopefully the disruption would wake me. Something about that one man really set alarm bells ringing. Most men are fine, but when women are ill and vulnerable they should not have to worry about their safety, they should not be put into a position where this is even a concern.

@SevenWaystoLeave

Lady Nicholson has a report of a woman raped on a hospital ward, unfortunately.

"Lady" Nicholson has a long history of jumping on - and spreading - false reports and narratives because they suit her vehemently anti-trans agenda so I wouldn't count anything she says with much credence to be honest. You're naive if you think she's anything other than a bigot with an agenda - she's certainly no friend to women or LGB people as she claims, since she's consistently voted against our rights.

Wow you're actually calling Baroness Nicholson a liar?

Women needing single sex spaces to maintain safety and dignity is not anti trans.

Why are the feelings of trans people important to you but the feelings of women are not?

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

It was actually much better than I'd envisaged it would be.

My dad was in the same hospital a couple of years previously and he was in one of the side wards of four beds, either all men or all women but you had to walk down the main corridor to the bathroom and the side wards had no door, it was just all open so people were wandering about all the time.

@ElectricFlower

I was on an admission ward which was me and 5 men. I didn’t feel I could sleep until I was moved to a dedicated ward.

That is shocking.

Worth remembering even where there are single sex wards, that only applies to the patients - there will still be male members of staff and visitors around. Nowhere in a hospital is going to be exclusively female only.

I hate staying in hospital and would prefer a private room, having had surgery a couple times in the past few years and can say that “to me it makes no difference who’s on the ward, I don’t really want to be in a room with anyone”. I do think wards should be single sex but if I had to go on a mixed ward it probably would bother me, you can close the curtains around to make it a bit more private but for me it’s just awful sharing a room with strangers.

@BarrowInFurnessRailwayStation

When people say 'mixed wards' are there dedicated single sex bays or could you literally be in a bed opposite a man (if you're a woman)?

There is no way I'd cope with that. I'd discharge myself.

And there lies the problem. Elderly? Confused? Injured? Awaiting a consultant who never seems to arrive?

You literally can't discharge yourself. Can't even reach the buzzer in some cases.

I cannot think of anything worse when ill than being in any sort of shared ward. Much better to be in a private room with own bathroom facilities that's why I would always choose private healthcare over NHS treatment.

Why do you put Lady in quote marks? She is a Baroness. Would you say Ruth Hunt is "Lady" Hunt?

As for your point, I believe she's said she's changed her mind on some issues she used to oppose, because she's listened to arguments, looked at evidence of how changes have bedded in, and other things I'd hope a legislator would do.

Even if she hadn't, I don't write a person off because I disagree with them on one issue. Case by case. She's a Tory, I'm not. There are still lots of points I'd disagree with her on, but on this one we do agree. Women's rights matter and should be considered before policy changes to ensure we don't lose existing protections.

They are awful, especially for long hospital stays. You are completely isolated. Especially so in covid times when you weren't even allowed visitors.

Depends on your personality! I have no problem being alone for long periods of time and far, far prefer being alone in hospital. Sounds awful but I can't cope being near other people who are ill except close family, especially when I am feeling unwell myself.

I live in a country where you can choose whether to go in a four-, three- , two- or single bed room and when I had an operation two years ago, I opted for the latter. No disrespect to NHS staff who do their best in difficult circumstances, but it also helps when you are under the care of a competent health care system and you know you are going to be checked on regularly.

@SevenWaystoLeave

Wow you're actually calling Baroness Nicholson a liar?

She's absolutely used cases which have proven to be mistaken/false/not the whole story in the past.

Can you please tell us which cases these are?

I certainly would not see her as an enemy to women.

YANBU, OP. Thank you.

I actually don't care, but all the hospitals near me have private rooms (US), so it's not so much of an issue. The only time I've ever been with anyone else was after my gallbladder surgery, on the recovery ward, but there were curtains between all the beds, so I didn't know who else was there, and I was only there for a couple of hours.

@Babdoc

OP, it doesn’t matter how many women reply to your survey on here and say they don’t object to having strange men around when they are undressed, ill, vulnerable and asleep. What matters is that single sex wards must be retained- for all the women who DO object. That may include Muslims, Orthodox Jews, rape victims, frail elderly women and women who quite rightly want their privacy, safety and dignity respected in hospital.

This. Just this

private room preferred but single sex ward after that.
Wards are just so noisy and there is always one patient or visitor who can't shut up.
When in hospital and trying to get well, I just want to sleep and not socialise.

I'm not usually one for gender segregation, but I think single sex wards are a very good thing & aas very glad to be on one during my last hospital visit. Especially as we were all being monitored quite closely so every time anyone closed their curtains the nurses would come along and bloody open them again.