Require the NHS to provide single-sex psychiatric wards including intake wards

[NonnyMouse1337]

I created a new post in the Petitions board. It's not my petition - just giving it publicity.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/petitions_noticeboard/4065880-Require-the-NHS-to-provide-single-sex-psychiatric-wards-including-intake-wards

I saw this on Twitter, so I have signed and retweeted.
My sister was so vulnerable when she was in a psychiatric hospital.
Thank you for posting this

I thought they were single sex? When my mother was admitted, we had to wait a few hours while they found a bed. To make the bed, they had to shuffle patients around to create more female space.

They usually are single sex (or at least single gender). However, some NHS trusts have designated one ward as a mixed-sex triage ward. Patients go there until they are determined to not have Covid and are then transferred to a single sex ward.

I can see the logic of an initial quarantine ward, because it can be really tough for psychiatric patients to comply with quarantine regulations (e.g. because it's bad for your mental health to be isolated on your own and because certain conditions like psychosis or dementia can make it hard for someone to remember they need to be isolated or understand why). I am also acutely aware of the huge financial constraints in the NHS, and the shortage of mental health beds.

However, it is so frustrating that space constraints mean that these may be mixed sex wards. So many women who need in-patient psychiatric care have suffered terrible sexual abuse and trauma. And men who require in-patient care can sometimes be quite aggressive and intimidating. It is beyond frustrating that vulnerable women (again) end up exposed to further trauma and bearing the emotional cost of the compromises the pandemic and continues austerity force us to make.

There was an awful case a few years ago in my area where a woman whose illness included an extreme fear of men was shamed for 'transphobia', on a ward which wasn't single sex.

And as for trans women staff managing female only wards.....

Thanks for sharing OP

Signed, I think this is particularly cruel.

Bumping this up the page.

Signed, a friend’s very vulnerable daughter was sexually assaulted on a psychiatric ward. Her mental health problems that put her in that ward were in part due to childhood sexual assault

This should not be needed FFS but signed and shared

@IAmNotAGirl

Signed, a friend’s very vulnerable daughter was sexually assaulted on a psychiatric ward. Her mental health problems that put her in that ward were in part due to childhood sexual assault

Bloody hell. Poor girl.

I'll sign this.

My sister had an unwanted sexual encounter with a man on a mixed psych ward (I won't call it assault as I think he might have been very vulnerable as well, and they were both let down). Very traumatic.

Not long afterwards, she killed herself.

 MiniMetronome, no one should be put in that position

Minimetronome once when I was visiting my sister in hospital she tried to smash her head through a window, and she had her glasses on. The staff were so fantastic, one nurse came to look after me, because I was in shock. These women need protecting, often from themselves. They don't need men in the equation.

US here.

I have bipolar and have been hospitalized numerous times. Each time in a mixed sex unit. I was/am young (18-22 when hospitalized.)

I was regularly sexually harassed by other male patients. I had men regularly try touching me, propositioning me for sex, and even trying to enter my room. Another young girl I shared a unit with had a male enter her room and get into bed with her before the staff even realized. I had a very ill schizophrenic man become violently enraged when I told him that in fact we were not childhood sweet hearts and had never met before that day. Men on the units will masturbate or urinate in the hallways. One man went into a rage in the hallway - screaming about how he hated women.

I have seen giant men, over 6 feet tall - easily weighing 300 pounds charge nurses and shatter door windows. These men will often take control of the dayroom's TV and bully and threaten anyone that challenges them.

The staff are often underpaid, underqualified, and wore thin. They become apathetic, easily. A lot of them are also intimidated by the larger men on the unit.

Of course, I have also seen women "act out." Especially the women going through drug withdrawal or psychotic breaks. However, in my experience they are significantly less sexually aggressive! Pair that with the fact most women in psychiatric hospitals have severe trauma from sexual assault and male violence and its a complete recipe for disaster.

For-profit psychiatric hospitals are the worst offenders with the lowest standard of care. (UHS - Universal Health Systems - is beyond awful! I have been hospitalized with them and have worked for them in their adolescent facilities. Avoid, avoid, avoid! They cause more trauma than help. In one case they put my young, sexually traumatized boys, all aged 8-12, in with the boys aged 13-15 who are documented sexual predators. One of my kids was forced to perform oral sex. Why mix the ages? Because they didn't have enough staff. Why no staff? Because the conditions were completely dangerous.)

Sorry for the long rant. I completely believe that all psychiatric facilities should be separated by age and sex for the safety of everyone involved. I have way too many horror stories from mixed sex and age units.

Signed, my local hospital has a mixed sex psychiatric ward. I know it causes problems for a lot of women.

Signed and shared.

This is so important as can be seen by what others have said.

I also have a family member who was terrorised by a man on a mixed sex ward, she had a single sex bay but the ward was mixed and there was no lock on the door of the bay. Leaving the bay for the toilet or to go to the common room or just to walk the corridor for exercise was then traumatic. She said the man had tried to get into her bed at night. Given his condition he may or may not have known what he was doing, I tend to think he seemed rather unaware, however he was a tall and well built man and my relative was rather petite. She was distressed and terrified, nothing could be done about. I find it appalling. The point of being in hospital is to be cared for and healed, not to be further traumatised and in this case (and in many of the other examples given) have your mental health actually made worse. Safety and well-being should be the first and most basic considerations.

Please everyone sign and share this petition, it only takes a minute and you never know when it could be you or your loved one needing hospital treatment.

to all those who have had to experience such awful things at these units / wards. Grateful for you sharing your stories. Like prisons, I think it's easy for many people to forget about places like psychiatric wards, and women there are least likely to be able to advocate for themselves.

The accounts on this thread are chilling. Signed and shared.

Signed. I'm so sorry for those of you have have experienced the consequences of these mixed sex wards

signed
for those who have shared their experiences here

I work on a mixed sex NHS psych ward
Mixed sex is the norm in the U.K.

However
-the rooms are en-suite and lockable
-The sleeping areas and bathrooms are single sex and the rules are strictly no men (apart from staff) in the female corridor. No male patients or visitors in the female corridor. People kick up about that but we do enforce it.
-It's only the dining room and lounge that are mixed sex and in fact there are also female and male only lounges as well as the larger one so there is a lot of single sex space.

• if a male patient was aggressive or sexually disinhibited our response would be either a) place patient on 1:1 obs b) transfer to a higher security ward which is single sex or c) discharge if the person was felt to be responsible for the behaviour rather than unwell
• if an incident of violence or sexual touching occurred to another patient it would be taken very seriously and investigated and the police would be called whether the person concerned is unwell or not

The ward is mixed sex mainly because we just do not have enough wards to have single sex ones. We'd need significantly more wards and more staff which we cannot afford. As I said we do have some single sex wards for people who are higher risk eg the personality disorder ward is all female and the intensive care is all male however there are no opposite sex alternatives (can't afford 2 wards). Males with personality disorder requiring a specialist unit would have to go to the private sector as would females requiring intensive care due to risk of violence.
So if single sex wards are insisted on then they'd need a whole lot of extra funding to build and staff more wards or the alternative is that some beds close/ women have access to less beds. Which do you realistically think will happen?

I'm sorry I therefore can't sign
Not that I don't think it would be a good idea but I think it would in fact result in less beds that women could access.

If there were the political will then we could have enough mental health beds and separate sex wards.

Since HS2 I am not buying the “we can’t possibly afford it” line. If we decide it is important then we can find the funding. Enough signatures on the petition will lead to a parliamentary debate. This issue is worthy of being debated, having evidence presented and a decision made based on best practice.

As a former patient in a mixed sex mental health ward, with 'single sex corridors' and shared dining room and lounge facilities, who has experienced intimidation from male patients and rape, I'd like to say that anyone who works on them and is content for the situation to continue, while making mealy mouthed excuses about cost, expecting women to accept that sort of crumbs-from-the-table attitude, can taking a running jump. The attitude sickens me.

"- if a male patient was aggressive or sexually disinhibited our response would be either a) place patient on 1:1 obs b) transfer to a higher security ward which is single sex or c) discharge if the person was felt to be responsible for the behaviour rather than unwell"

Thanks, its interesting to hear from you.

I'm wondering what counts as aggressive or uninhibited and how you'd know?

Are women on the ward asked how they feel or if they've had any poor behaviour from men? I wonder if you can really know about what is going on? I would never report "x made me uncomfortable" for example.

Its noticeable that there's single sex provision and one to one care for the offenders, but that's not available for the women. Again not a dig at you but suggests that there IS resource.