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The use of mixed-sex wards in England’s hospitals has increased by the highest number in a month in almost 15 years, despite the Health Secretary Wes Streeting This practice was condemned under the previous Conservative government.
official figures from NHS Strict rules against their use in England were breached by more than 5,000 times in January, the first time since 2011.
There were 4,801 violations, up from 3,953 in October, the most recent month for which data is available. Recorded during the same month that the Tories were in charge of the health service in 2023.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) criticized the practice, saying it was “disgraceful and unsafe” as it called for urgent investment to increase bed capacity and the ability for people to be treated at home and away from overwhelmed hospitals.
In response to inquiries from Independent, The government said it was “not acceptable” for patients to share sleeping spaces with members of the opposite sex, and that it was “strongly” reminding hospital trusts on this point.
Before last year’s general election, Mr Streeting criticized its continued use The mixed-sex ward, which he said had gone “through the roof”. Under the previous Conservative government.
Under official guidance updated in 2012, patients should not share wards overnight, share bathroom facilities or cross areas occupied by patients of the opposite sex to go to the toilet.
Shadow health secretary Stuart Andrew said: “It is a shame that mixed-sex ward breaches are at their highest point in more than a decade.
“No patient should feel exposed or unsafe, yet thousands are.”
Daniel Elkels, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, said patients’ safety, dignity and clinical needs were always the top priority, but added: “Sometimes extreme pressure on available beds results in people not being able to be cared for in mixed wards”.
He said NHS trusts make every effort to avoid this, but “sometimes it is better to care for a patient in a mixed-sex ward rather than treating someone in a temporary space such as a corridor due to a lack of free beds – which can be caused by a number of factors, including too high demand or delays in discharging some patients well enough to leave the hospital but who have no place to go.”
The last time the number of breaches in a single month exceeded 5,000 was in March 2011, when the NHS began recording the numbers in the wake of a massive public outcry. By May that year their numbers had dropped to less than 2,000 per month and by the end of the year their numbers were only in the hundreds.
And that’s how they stayed until late 2017, when they started climbing again. Under the previous Conservative government there were several months in which the total number of breaches exceeded 4,000.
At the time Mr Streeting said patients had been left at risk and felt humiliated, but official figures showed January marked the first time the figure of 5,000 had been in labor in a single month. The rules were broken 5,180 times that month, a violation rate of 2.7 percent. A year earlier, before Labor came to power, the figure was 4,404, a rate of 2.6 per cent. In December this figure was 4,549, which is more than last year’s 3,522 (2.7 percent vs. 2.2 percent). June also saw more violations, 4,559 to 3,881, (2.5 percent vs. 2.2 percent) compared to the same month last year.
Even during the Covid pandemic, the highest recorded figure was 4,929 in February 2020, although counting was suspended until October that year. NHS Came under pressure.
Lynn Woolsey, chief nursing officer at the Royal College of Nursing, said: “The rise in mixed-sex ward breaches is indicative of a health service under severe strain, with too little space and too few beds to meet rising demand. It is common for patients to be herded into corridors and even store shelves, with understaffed and overworked nursing teams forced to treat patients in crowded environments without easy access to life-saving equipment. This The practice is undignified, unsafe and simply cannot continue.
“The Secretary of State must act with urgent investment to increase bed capacity in hospitals and improve nurse staffing levels, and, importantly, funding for community teams to enable people to be treated at home and away from overwhelmed hospitals.”
Liberal Democrat health spokeswoman Helen Morgan said: “Staying in hospital is one of the most stressful and debilitating situations any of us can experience. It is completely unacceptable that patients are being forced into mixed-sex wards – adding fuel to the fire of stress and anxiety.
“Every patient deserves comfort and is treated with dignity and respect, not left in inappropriate conditions because the wards are full.
“This will get even worse in the event of a winter crisis. The government needs to bring forward an emergency package of additional social care places and more staffed beds otherwise patients will continue to suffer unacceptable conditions.”
A government spokesman said: “The use of mixed-sex wards soared under the Tories, and is another sign of how damaged the NHS has been under their watch.
“As we try to repair the damage they have caused, we are clear – patient safety, dignity and privacy are vital, and NHS trusts are expected to eliminate mixed-gender accommodation.
“Despite high flu cases and demand for services at unprecedented levels, it is not acceptable for patients to share sleeping accommodation with members of the opposite sex, and the Trust is strongly reminded of this point.”