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?

I’m not sure if it was a bay or a ward, I think maybe a bay though. it was the room which had 6 beds and a toilet in it and we had a nurse assigned to the room during the day. There was other rooms like that along the corridor and I think together all the rooms made up the ward? Each room (with 6 beds and a toilet) had a mix of men and woman in them x

Oh give over. Are you totally blind to experiences beyond your own?

Honestly as someone who has had a few stays in hospital I wouldn't like it either, just because I prefer to sleep without a bra on and would feel the need to wear a bra at all times with men on the ward and would maybe feel a bit more conscious of how I looked in general. I wouldn't be scared though.

Not having a lock on the toilet door would definitely really bother me regardless of the type of ward.

It's not an unusual feeling, OP. It feels undignified to be semi-dressed around members of the opposite sex, that's a very common feeling in our society (and in most societies). You don't have to feel bad about feeling that way. It's normal and one of the reasons mixed sex wards poll badly with the public when they are asked.

That’s a bay. Really strange that it was mixed, from my experience they don’t usually put men and women in together.

Okay last time I was in hospital a few weeks ago they had mixed bays for the first time . One of the men thought nothing of getting his arse out when getting changed .
For some reason they also decided that bathrooms were mixed sex as well which they clearly weren't ( I know it said female) Anyway one morning after I decided to go for a shower . Lo and behold the lock wasn't working and I managed to greet two men in my birthday suit ..
Afterwards I managed to corner a male nurse to ask him why men were trying to access the women's .He didn't manage to find the answer but the only solution I could find is access all areas .
If your only stay has ever been maternity in hospital , you have a lot to learn .

Meh. Couldn't get worked up.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/mixed-sex-wards-breach-nhs-streeting-b2534608.html
Op, it is my understanding from the above article , that, in the UK, having to share wards or bathrooms, having to walk past patients of the opposite sex to reach a bathroom, was supposed to be outlawed. NHS hospitals are expected to report this.
Honestly, I would complain. Totally understand beds are scarce etc, but if they had several mixed bays on one ward, that’s just poor organisation.
Sadly, some people still manage to behave very badly, even when they are ‘ill’

Oh that's so nice for you Wait for illness to creep up on you .

Not ideal but I don’t know if the uk is like Ireland at the mo, unfortunately there’s a lot of overcrowding at the moment. Dmil was in with men but she said she counted herself lucky as she’d been on a trolley in a corridor for a while. Sad times but sometimes things can’t be helped (not saying it’s ok but just in an ideal world of course there’d be single sex)

Women are assaulted and raped in hospital and care settings

we need same sex facilities- that means biological sex

It's unusual to have mixed bays unless it's an emergency or critical care ward but maybe beds are so scarce now you get what you're given. It makes more sense to have moved patients onto single sex days but maybe that leaves potential empty beds, I wouldn't like it but in an emergency I wouldn't care.

I'm a man. I don't like the mixed wards, it's inappropriate for dignity purposes in my view.
The women around me did not respect my privacy, asking invasive questions about why I was in hospital and wanting to know about my life. One actually asked me about what I thought was a private conversation with my doctor and it felt very awkward for me. Men just ignore each other which I like when I'm very ill 😂
I just think in settings like this same sex wards are more appropriate. Although the snoring on all male wards is certainly not a positive 😂

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cydl60jz4dzo.amp

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4836522-uk-hospital-admits-transgender-patient-raped-woman-in-a-ward-horrific

your privacy feelings will be different to a woman's though - although you don't like feeling uncomfortable about unwanted conversations these are different to the feelings of vulnerability which women will feel. Both are valid

I was on a mixed ICU ward for 8 weeks which obviously I didn't mind.
When I was well enough to go to a medical ward they dumped me on a mixed dementia ward ( I'm 30, 29 at the time, last year)
I had severe surgical debridement on my leg due to necrotising fascitis in my groin and the elderly men and women used to walk in when I was being washed my dressing changed ( I couldn't move one muscle in my body, hands, legs ect due to be in a coma for 8 weeks)
I have never felt so vulnerable and undignified in all my life, not being able to move the other patients on and worse the hcas and nurses weren't that fussed!!!
I don't want old men seeing my naked body and gaping hole in my leg thank you!!!

Mixed sex wards should be abolished

Most people think of a ward as the bit where the beds are. Technically that is a bay. A ward is basically a floor or wing of the hospital with several big rooms called bays where the beds are.

I thought mixed sex bays were banned with exception of intensive care and psychiatric wards. I've been in a few times and never in a mixed bay, not even on an sdmissions ward.

I’ve had lots of stays in hospital and in my experience the medical or surgical assessment wards can be mixed sex bays. I absolutely hate them.

O yes totally get that just thought I'd add another viewpoint.
If hospitals can split they should.

@bluetopazlove Been there done that my love.

YANBU I didn’t even know this is a thing and it’s horrifying. We have different changing rooms at a swimming pool and gym so on what planet do men and women want to share space and privacy for potentially weeks on end, in their most vulnerable states? Mixed bathrooms and loos are also a no no.

Do you mean a mixed ward or mixed rooms.. I work in a speciality ward with 20 beds, 2 4 bedded rooms and 12 single rooms. We are a mixed sex ward but never mixed in the 4 bedded rooms. All rooms have individual bathrooms. I really hate the thought of a mixed room, some of the receiving wards have mixed rooms as no choice bed wise.. i think its wrong

It's unfortunate that society has been lead to believe all people who want to work with children are predators so they need to DBS check everyone.
Most people who want to work with children are decent and caring people.

I really sympathise with you op, and as a young woman, I think you feel more vulnerable because you ARE more vulnerable, because you are more likely to attract unwelcome attention from men.

Before anyone says anything, I know older woman are assaulted in hospitals and care homes too and that’s totally abhorrent too. But I think predatory men do look out for more inexperienced women and exploit their politeness and reluctance to offend ifyswim.

As an older woman I wouldn’t mind asserting myself and telling someone their behaviour was inappropriate but I remember feeling very isolated and vulnerable as a young woman in a London hospital.

I wasn’t on a mixed ward but a lot of men gathered in the area by the lifts talking in the evenings and women had to pass through them to get to the bathrooms, and they were subjected to lots of inappropriate comments. I came to absolutely dread having to go to the bathroom and I didn’t feel safe but didn’t have the confidence to complain.

Nowadays I would kick up a fuss and make sure other women were protected but back when I was twenty-two I wasn’t sure of myself and thought it was just me going through it.

Bring back single sex wards and better staffed wards!

This is incredibly naive.