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?

Sounds like you were in a 6 bedded bay on a ward. In my experience staff try to keep separate female bays and male bays but it isn't always possible. Pretend you are in a cardiac ward and therefore need the specialist care from the staff working within it, as does everyone else on that ward. You then have 2 bays each having 6 beds, normally one is female and one is male. You also have 5 singles 'cubes' or 'bedrooms' when you were admitted, 2 of these were being used by end of life patients who were in their final days and 3 were being used by patients with contagious illnesses ie flu, norovirus or what ever. So that leaves 2 x 6 bedded bays. Ideally 6 women and 6 men would need these beds. However when you were admitted 9 women and 3 men needed these beds. So this leaves one female bay and one mixed. No it's not ideal, but what do you expect staff to do? Put the 3 men in the cubes and bring out the female dying / infectious patients onto your bay, that would make it a female bay I guess. Or move the 3 males (or the 3 females including you) to a ward that does not have specifically trained staff in cardiology, leaving 3 empty beds in the now 'male bay'? Obviously these beds wouldn't stay empty as beds are so badly needed so these would be filled with a patient who did not have any spefic medical need, most likely a social admission for example someone with dementia whose family can no longer manage. I'm genuinely curious about how the public expect staff to mange this? I've used the example of a cardiac ward but this could apply to a stroke ward, orthopaedic ward, anywhere really. Would people rather be moved to a female only bay in a different ward specialising in another health condition than be treated by appropriately trained staff in a mixed bay? So if you had a stroke you would be ok being treated on an orthopaedic ward if that meant you were on a female bay?

I've been out of the NHS for a good few years now, but even in the 2000s breaches of single sex accomodation had to be reported as part of target monitoring.

You do not have to have people on single sex wards, but you do have to have them in single-sex bays. Of course, we've had eons of a Tory government since then, so who knows what they've had to do to cut costs and keep bed occupancy at 150%.

Your post makes direct assumptions about my personal medical experiences, which you know absolutely nothing about. In fact I have been on a mixed ward and felt extremely vulnerable. However, I still feel that it has to be down to the management to protect/ prevent these situations, rather than blaming the male population as a whole, which is what this thread has morphed into!

Which no this thread as not morphed into a situation where it blames the male population as whole . I have said myself patients need their dignity protected
All patients need protected .

And by the way some men won't pay any attention to your dignity when I found they thought they access to a shower rooms twice , when it clearly said female .

Sometimes people
feel full strength in the hospital. I have been admitted in that circumstance. Just under observation after a serious medical incident so that they can administer lifesaving medication fast enough.

Mixed wards are also discriminatory. There are some cultures where women don't even show their hair in front of a man out of the immediate family - how would they cope being expected to be undressed with a strange man on the other side of a curtain?

I was treated for a cardiac issue on a cancer ward, presumably because there were no beds for me on the cardiac ward. It's fine. The cardiac consultants still came to see me etc. To be honest, I'd rather that than have been in a mixed sex bay.

When my late DGF was in hospital after one of his strokes, his ward was mixed but there were 3 bays for each gender and they had 4 or 6 bed in each. You weren't aware it was a mixed ward until you were walking to/from his bed to the corridor.

I would say you are among the lucky minority of women. Maybe I'm just incredibly unlucky, but I was the victim of CSA (by a man), I have been flashed several times, and I couldn't begin to count the number of times I have been randomly grabbed in a sexual manner in bars and clubs or at gigs and festivals. Add to this working in a very male dominated industry and hearing the sometimes pretty awful things said about women and how they treat them/want to treat them once I've become part of the furniture to them and they no longer guard their language. Even the ones who don't join in never call it out. Definitely NAMALT, but it is a sizeable group IME and there is no way to tell which are a risk until it's too late. There is absolutely no way I could sleep on a mixed ward in the hope all the strange men are 'the good ones'.

But missatomicbomb you have to think if this is realistic if several cardiac patients have been put in different wards throughout the hospital. It takes time to get to you and then try and educate the nurses etc who may not be use to your particular medical needs. It may have been that you were relatively stable so you could be moved to a different ward, but what would happen if you weren't? For those that need it, specialist cardiac, stroke, ortho or whatever care is essential. There is also the possibility of course that a cancer patient may have needed that bed. Ideally all patients should be treated in wards that catered for their primary medical condition. It would be lovely if that could be done in female / male bays but my point is that's not always possible due to patients medical needs.

Yes there are a lot of 'what ifs' but actually I felt more comfortable in a single sex bay on the 'wrong' ward than I did in the mixed sexed bay of the MAU.
I'm sure that if I'd had complex needs then a place would have been found on the correct ward.
It shouldn't have to be either/or though. There should be enough separate provision on the specialist wards.

Of course you felt embarrassed OP. You were unwell and vulnerable. When you're at your lowest ebb you don't want any strangers around you, least of all the opposite sex.

My mother has just returned from a week in hospital after a fall. She was on a large mixed ward but it had separate bays which were single sex and separate bathrooms for each sex.
Purely because of the luck of timing of when she was admitted she was put at the men's end of the ward but in her own room with a sink, so she could close her door when she liked, it was excellent.

I can definitely see how that could make you uncomfortable

What I find more uncomfortable is male doctors. When I was in my early 20s I had my breasts examined by a middle aged male consultant, and it was one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life.

I always ask to see a female GP but you don't get a choice in a hospital.

Yes. There are HCAs around and I don’t anticipate being able to get to the bathroom unaided (by an HCA of either sex)

Was it a single sex ward or mixed? As my sexual assault happened in the communal areas of the (mixed) ward. We also had a trans person in the female wing (bedrooms.)

It was single sex rooms, but both sexes on the same corridor and communal areas.

I completely agree, it just shouldn't happen because there's not any way the busy staff can stop sexual assault or sexual comments happening. I'm still upset about what happened to me and I don't think it was taken particularly seriously, either. It must happen all the time. But I'm angry that it was just allowed to happen multiple times by the different men.

I would far rather be on a mixed ward than the ward full of old women with dementia who screamed and shouted all night that I found myself on after my recent surgery.

I was also on an adult mixed psychiatric ward, usually I had my own private room but at one point they put me in a room with fours bed, 3 of which were occupied by men. One of the men used to wank at the women patients when the staff weren't around. I was 16...

How about a mixed ward in which there was also some MEN with dementia?

My elderly Mum found herself on one of these. One of these men kept wandering in and out of the female bays, which was distressing to the very ill women who felt extremely vulnerable - especially when he wandered at night.

I am so sorry that happened to you @Octaviathethird . There is no excuse for the lack of care you were shown there.

That's awful! 😔