Ooooo
- This is the Independent
- Looky. Wes Streeting Again
- Apparently no one cares about this? Thats why Labour just decided to go on the offensive with regards to single sex hospital provision ahead of an election... And the LDs managed to find someone willing to give an official statement for once.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/mixed-sex-wards-breach-nhs-streeting-b2534608.html
NHS breaks mixed-sex wards rules 44,000 times in a year with patients at risk of humiliation and assault
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said patients were left feeling humiliated and at risk, adding: ‘The use of mixed sex wards has gone through the roof under the Tories’
Official figures from NHS England show the government’s strict rules against doing so were broken nearly 5,000 times in February alone.
NHS leaders voiced concerns over the high number of breaches and warned that care that was "unthinkable a decade ago is at risk of becoming the new normal”.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said patients were left feeling humiliated and at risk, adding: “The use of mixed-sex wards has gone through the roof under the Tories.”
The government outlawed mixed wards in the NHS in 2010. Under the guidance, patients should not share wards overnight, share bathroom facilities or have to walk through areas occupied by patients of the opposite sex to get to the toilets.
Remind me, why were mixed sex wards outlawed in just 2010? What caused them to do these? What was the purpose?
Under the guidance, no mental health units should have mixed wards. However, earlier this year, The Independent revealed the practice is widespread, with more than 500 sexual assaults reported across almost half of the NHS mental health hospitals in England.
In one case, patient Alexis Quinn told how she was placed on a male-only ward due to bed shortages at the time. She was later sexually assaulted while in the corridor by a male patient.
Another former patient, Rivkah Grant, was sexually assaulted by a male mental health worker while at Barnet Hospital, and then further “traumatised” after she was moved to a mixed ward just days later.
Oh. So if you've been sexually assaulted being forcefully put in a mixed sex environment when you are vulnerable might be considered traumatising. Nice of you to catch up The Independent.
Mr Streeting said that the use of mixed-sex wards could be directly linked to government cuts: “Women were forced to spend the night on wards alongside male patients 44,000 times last year, 20 times as many as a decade ago.
“Patients often find this humiliating. Thanks to the investigative reporting of The Independent, we know that this is also leaving women particularly vulnerable and putting their safety at risk.
“The rising number of breaches is a direct result of Conservative cuts to hospital beds and their failure to train enough NHS staff.”
Earlier this year, following questions by The Independent, the Department for Health and Social Care said it planned to update guidance on mixed-sex accommodation – however, it has yet to publish this.
O Really? You don't say.
NHS guidance says patients should not share wards overnight with members of the opposite sex “except where appropriate”.
The only exemptions are critical care, end-of-life care, and observation wards where patients are only meant to be admitted for four hours and where treatment is delivered such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
The guidance also says that on the rare occasions that mixing does occur, every effort should be made to rectify the situation as soon as possible.
Lynn Woolsey, UK deputy chief nurse at the Royal College of Nursing, said: “Sky-high mixed-sex ward breaches tell the story of an NHS bursting at the seams, but this is just the tip of the iceberg.
“Patients are routinely being cared for in corridors and other inappropriate settings. Nursing staff describe instances of having to move non-essential equipment such as vending machines in order to place a bed with a patient. Patients deserve respect, privacy and dignity, and this is not it.”
Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Daisy Cooper said: “This is yet another broken promise from this government on the NHS. It shows the Conservative Party simply can’t be trusted with our NHS.”
Patients deserve respect, privacy and dignity when it suits our political agenda. When it doesn't its tough shit women.
Its fascinating to see the cognitive dissonance just evapourating.