Hospital toilets. Mixed sex

[BetweenAppointments]

I have posted about this (last year) but am making a new thread as wanted to actually take some action now.

I am a cancer patient at at a London cancer hospital. A new wing was opened a couple of years ago, and all of the toilets are sex cubicles with shared spaces for hand washing. I will add photos.

on most floors they are completely mixed sex and you can choose which cubicle you go in. Shared hand washing spaces.

in the main foyer they have put up signs to indicate men’s and women’s cubicles, but still shared hand washing.

I absolutely hate them. They’re completely inappropriate in a hospital setting, particularly a cancer hospital where many patients are unwell or dealing with very personal side effects of treatment

I’m planning to write formally to the hospital and would really like to push for change (or at least for proper single sex options). I will add photos so you can see what I mean.

Has anyone else experienced this in hospitals or public buildings? Has anyone successfully complained or campaigned about similar facilities? Any advice on how best to approach this or who to escalate to would be very welcome.

Thank you @Keeptoiletssafe for the stats! I will start including some of these, as well as legislation!

the main hospital is old, and has the usual separate m/f toilets as you would expect.

this new wing opened in June 2023. This is the area with shared toilet spaces.

Unacceptable and probably illegal

I have been sexually assaulted while in hospital.

Women and girls are often very vulnerable there.

Safeguarding must be done properly.

Which wuld you opt for if given the choice
a) an extra nurse or a child bed in your local hospital or
b) a payout to a family who sued due to a preventable death in your local hospital ?

That ^ is what the Trust has put on the table

I don't like mixed hand washing at all, The Wellcome museum toilets are awful as an example . I'm spending a lot of time in a new cancer centre at the moment and they have lovely toilets with cords and unisex but sinks inside the cubicles. Good luck with your complaint.

And you cannot begin to imagine why it might bother other women? Really?

Press for Change and Stonewall. Seemingly now perpetuated by the unions

It looks to me that this was installed as a fully mixed sex toilet block some years ago. It may be that there have been behaviour problems or complaints from users. Or someone has realised that they’re not compliant with Building Regs. So the Facilities Manager has tried to “fix” this and taken the mixed sex signs down and installed male and female badges… so they appear to be single sex even if still non compliant. And I imagine the trust policy is still Gender self ID anyway…. It looks horrible. I’d also hate these loos and not be happy meeting strangers men in this windowless sound proof room… urgh

which trust is it? I’ll post extracts from their single sex policy if you’d like?

This is my favourite door… my mind boggles!

Good for you! We are all just uptight, right?

Maybe talk to some women and girls who have been raped and see how they feel about this set up. Or read up on the longterm effects of trauma.

I would be bothered by this too. Thinking back through my experiences in hospital toilets I can think of several occasions when it would have been embarrassing and felt invasive to be stood in close proximity to a male stranger in that specific shared space.

1. when I’d broken my hand and was in the fracture clinic, they had just decided I needed surgery that day and were trying to do pre-op stuff without the benefit of a ward so I was sent to the clinic toilets to do a perineal swab and urine sample so they could send them off for testing for infections and such like. After using the cubicle I had the swab kit and urine sample in hand and had to put them on the sink to wash my hands and then straighten up my clothing as hadn’t been able to do it properly in the cubicle one handed and with no where to put the bottle and swab kit I was trying to hold in my only working hand.

2. Following delivery of DD I was taken to the ward where male visitors were allowed to stay and use the facilities, this was annoying with fully enclosed single use toilets/sinks because it was unpleasant having to stand outside waiting for a bloke to finish using the limited number of toilets while blood trickled down my trouser leg and I was in pain, but if I’d then have had to stand next to him at the sink while I tried to wash the blood off my legs that would have been extremely humiliating and inappropriate.

3. When I was admitted with a severe gallbladder infection and then emergency gallbladder removal and had drains fitted and a gappy hospital gown that wafted open at the slightest movement.

And their insurer. If it's a PFI build, insurance is a private arrangement by the SPV not the NHS.

Was female only but not any more.....

The fairly newly refurbished hospital I attend for blood tests and one OPClinic has all mixed sex toilets.
Individual large cubicles with integral basins, fair enough, but tucked away down a corridor and around a couple of corners. Doors are floor to ceiling and open inwards. There are orange pull cords.
Without exception they are smelly, flooded, piss everywhere, toilet paper and paper towels strewn everywhere. Disgusting.
I report them every time I attend an appointment.
This obsession with mixed sex toilets in hospitals is just a political statement and a means of control and bullying of vulnerable people.

The health problems with unisex hospital toilets are well known.
https://salus.global/article-show/pathogen-findings-raise-concerns-about-move-to-unisex-hospital-facilities

When you flush a toilet, there’s a microbial plume that travels from the toilet around 1m to 1.5m and covers everything in little droplets. So the sink, hand dryer, door handle and everything else within the cubicle will be covered in the previous occupants particles. In fact, if the blower hand dryer vent isn’t cleaned well, some scientists reckon you end up with more bacteria on your hands than you began with.

It’s better that the sinks are outside the toilet cubicle.

If course, bleaching and spraying down areas is useful in hospitals. If the doors and partitions don’t touch the floor, mopping, cleaning and drainage is so much easier.

@BetweenAppointments please pm me if you want more links.

OK Multitasking Superwoman😄

There's nothing as clear as England's Document T in either Wales or Scotland, unfortunately, but Wales appear to still be using their 2018 document re toilet provision - whether or not it applies to hospital buildings, I don't know.

It acknowledges the need for specific provision for women:
2.10 Gender is also an issue in terms of toilet provision; despite women making up more than half of the UK population, and with a higher proportion of older people being women, there is more provision for men, primarily because of the smaller space that urinals take up. Historically, the ideal ratio of 1 male facility to 2 female facilities has not been delivered, which results in insufficient provision for women.
32533 The Provision of Toilets in Wales: Local Toilets Strategies, English Version
They mention transgender people separately, but the above para is clear in referring to women v. men, and the need for distinct provision for women.

I think pursuing the topic of toilet configuration outside of England is going to have to be done by referring to the 'direction of travel' in England, which is towards retaining/returning to the traditional provision of sex-segregated men's, women's, and the 'third space' accessible toilet for disabled people. Optional mixed sex toilets are 'fourth spaces'.

I'd have to check this but I think there was public consultation before the 2014 update to the Doc T building regs on what kind of toilet provision was preferred, and the result was that most people preferred sex-segregated toilets.

This is the up to date document for Wales but the bits you need have been in place long since 2023. Look at p.63-64. Remember the separate sex toilet washrooms they are talking about here include the ambulant toilets in that picture:

https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2025-08/regulations-guidance-part-m-access-to-and-use-of-buildings.pdf

This is a good guide to what happens in Welsh schools when they have mixed sex private toilets: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/education/drug-dealing-drinking-dirt-problems-28517175

As I say, I have a few more links about incidents in Wales and/or hospitals if you want.

That last post was relevant for @FcukBreastCancer

The equivalent part M for England for @BetweenAppointments is:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66f6c5eec71e42688b65ee11/ADM__V2_with_2024_amendments.pdf
starts from p47 mentioning separate sex toilet washrooms again.

This happened to me. It was awful, needless to say, and really opened my eyes to the problems of mixed sex facilities.

Bollocks it wouldn't.

Dealing with your period in front of strange men?

Edited to add: who are trying, discreetly or maybe totally indiscreet to look at what you're up to. Shudder 🤢