Mixed sex wards?

[Ward3567]

Hi!

just wondered what other people would have felt about this because honestly I’m not sure if my reaction is ridiculous or not!

I was recently unwell and in hospital and on a ward for several days. I have really limited experience with hospitals but I guess I had assumed everyone on the ward would be female but it was mixed. I was the youngest (early 20s) and everyone was so, so nice so it was fine, but I sort of felt a bit nervous about being on a ward with men- I know that’s completely daft because it’s a hospital and nothing happened and they were all nice but I was really nervous about it. There was around 6 of us (2 females and 4 males) and everyone was ranging in age from 40-70 so I was the youngest and honestly they couldn’t have been nicer to me so I feel so awful for feeling nervous and uneasy, but I just sort of spent the entire time on my nerves. I guess it was probably worsened by being unwell and feeling a bit vulnerable which probably made it all seem worse than it actually was, but I just felt so uneasy about it. During the night there were no staff within eyeshot or earshot because our ward was at the other end of the corridor and I just remember being up at 4am and feeling totally alone and frightened to be around 4 males. Add into the equation the fact our ward toilet didn’t have a working lock on it which probably made it the whole thing feel more stressful than it was!

so yeah, just wondered would this have made anyone else nervous or was I being dramatic/feeling a bit vulnerable because I was unwell?

No, you weren't being dramatic. The only wards that should be mixed-sex are the intensive care wards. Ordinary care wards absolutely should be segregated by sex.

Not Ok at all. Sorry you had to have that experience.

Sorry should have said as well, I’m obviously really grateful for the amazing care I received when I was in there!

I think the unfortunate thing in our society/ media, is that we’re lead to believe that all males are predators, when in fact they’re not.
Most men and women are decent caring human beings.

I was in one. I was shocked and I hated it. I had no bad experiences, but I would have at the very like to have been told. All that said, it was the women that were the trouble makers 😭

Having men around wouldn’t make me nervous but I feel single sex wards are more private somehow. And if I’m feeling and looking like shit, I’d rather just have women around.

Oh 100% I know what you mean. Most people are absolutely fine and the people I was in the ward with were lovely. I think I was just feeling a bit vulnerable and a bit embarrassed maybe x

Totally understandable. You’re not in hospital because you’re at the top of your game, you’re there because you’re vulnerable. Wards are supposed to be single sex not only for your safety, but also for everyone’s privacy and dignity.

I would have also felt vulnerable and embarrassed, especially if the loo didn't have a working lock and there were no staff nearby at night. I hope you're recovering ok.

In my experience there are rooms, several in each ward, but they don't have doors. I thought that they'd at least keep the actual rooms, usually 4 people, as single sex!?

It sounds like it wasn't just the ward that was mixed but your bay too. I wouldn't mind as long as my bay was single sex. Organising wards can be a nightmare when they are so full but it's not right for you to be upset.

I was on a mixed psychiatric ward. That was awful. I was sexually assaulted by 3 different men.

When I was in, approx a year and a half ago, it was just one big room. I was v shocked that there were men there but that's obviously the system!

My mum was in hospital recently and they said they were ‘bursting at the seams!’ They had extra beds in the wards with no curtains etc to maximise space. Mixed wards are also being used for this.

Sorry I don’t know anything about hospitals so I might have called it the wrong thing.

it was basically a big long corridor and at the end there was a nurses station and a closed off staffroom for the nurses, and then going up the corridor there was different rooms which each had 6 beds and a toilet in it. That’s what I was saying about (not sure if it’s a ward or a bay but hope it makes more sense now!)

💐

If they’re in hospital then I should imagine they’re poorly, don’t know what you thought they were going to do to you if they’re feeling like crap!

Predatory behaviour by men is exceptionally common. It doesn't have to include assault to make women uncomfortable. There aren't that many men who wouldn't take advantage of being able to look at a woman they find attractive in a state of undress, for instance, even if it was just a surreptitious glance.

But you don't have to think that men are predators at all to be uncomfortable about being in a state of undress near men you don't know. Even if they wouldn't take advantage of the situation, women (and men) can feel uncomfortable about accidental exposure too.

I mean, I didn’t really think they’d do anything. And they didn’t. They were all really nice, as I said in my OP. I just sort of felt uneasy and a bit embarrassed or self conscious, I did explain in my OP that I wasn’t sure why I felt that way but It’s just how I felt

I was in a mixed sex ward a fair few years back, I didn't mind at all, everybody was really nice I made good friends with the man in the bed near mine. I was young like you too. No bad experiences at all, I was happy just to be given medicine and to get better.

They did move to a single sex ward afterwards when I was out of critical condition and it was awful. Like really awful. The woman in the bed next to me was shrill and vile and kicked off when anybody at all came to see me especially my boyfriend. In the end I checked myself out early to get away from her!

Mine was about 14-16 in it. It was like something you'd see in a film depicting the 60s really. It was not good. And I had just come from a different section where I had my own private room and bathroom! BUT it allowed me to escape from the psych place, so I was happy out in the end.

Women have been raped in hospital by other patients, so the whole gamut of inappropriate sexual attention is a possibility. And mixed sex wards means there is less reason for someone to be concerned if someone of the opposite sex is wandering into your bay - so you are more vulnerable to anyone who wants to try, not just the patients you are sharing with.

But it doesn't require criminal behaviour by other patients to make people feel uneasy about mixed sex wards. Most people find it undignified to be semi-dressed around people of the opposite sex they aren't intimate with. Especially when feeling unwell themselves and less capable of keeping track of how exposed they might be.

People get raped in NHS wards every year . Mixed sexual wards are inappropriate.

Last Spring, the Guardian and the BMJ published the results of their investigationn_ which showed that NHS trusts had recorded more than 35,000 cases of rape, sexual assault, harassment, stalking, and abusive remarks between 2017 and 2022 across all NHS setting

I’ve worked in lots of different wards in a couple of hospitals. The wards are generally mixed but the bays are usually same sex, are you saying that the bay was mixed? That’s very unusual if it was, no wonder you felt uneasy I’d feel uncomfortable too

Being on a mixed-sex ward wouldn’t worry me because I have always had friends who happen to be male and I regard men as people, not predators. But the option of single sex wards should be available to those who want them

You weren't being daft at all. Most men might be nice (debatable) but it is overwhelmingly men that are a risk factor for assault.

My dad was on a ward where an elderly man in the bed opposite masturbated vigorously and repeatedly. Luckily my dad's eyesight was so bad he was unaware. That could have been my mum. No way.