UK NEWS

ONE IN 10 STILL SUFFERES INDIGNITY OF MIXED WARDS

Wednesday May 16,2007

By Victoria Fletcher, Health Editor

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ONE in 10 NHS patients say they had to sleep in mixed-sex wards even when their hospital stay was booked weeks in advance, a new survey has found.

And almost one in three had to sleep in bays alongside the opposite sex after being rushed to hospital in an emergency.

But despite such blips, nine out of 10 patients said their experience of NHS care was “excellent”, “very good” or “good”.

The survey, of more than 81,000 patients, found that most of them had complete confidence in their doctors and felt well-informed about the risks and benefits of their treatment.

But there were complaints about basic care, too. More than half were not given enough help to feed themselves at meal times, which may explain why up to 40 per cent of patients leave NHS hospitals malnourished.

And 15 per cent said it took more than five minutes for a nurse to attend after they had pushed their call button.

Patients have a right to expect hospitals to get the basics right.

Anna Walker, Healthcare Commission

Anna Walker, head of the Healthcare Commission, which instigated the survey, said the findings were good, but that the NHS could still do better.

“We all hear a lot of negative comments about the NHS, but most patients have rated the overall quality of their care as good or excellent.” But, she admitted, patients have a “right” to expect hospitals to get the basics right.

She also conceded that the NHS is performing “below standard” on segregated wards.

But last night the Shadow Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, lashed out at Labour’s failure over the “indignity” of mixed-sex wards, saying: “In 1997 Gordon Brown stood for office on a manifesto promising the elimination of mixed-sex wards. He has failed.”

He said a million patients a year are being snubbed by the Government, who six days ago said the problem of mixed-sex wards was “not the business” of the Department of Health.

The survey also found that hospital food has not improved, despite the £40million Better Hospital Food campaign. Only half of patients said the quality was “good” or “very good”, a figure which has remained almost static for the past four years.

But fears about cleanliness in the wake of scandals over hospital superbugs MRSA and C.diff, seem to be fading.

The survey found that doctors and nurses are increasingly washing their hands before touching patients and more than nine in 10 rated their hospital ward as “very” or “fairly” clean.

Last night, Dr Jonathan Fielden, of the British Medical Association, said: “This high degree of confidence in doctors reflects the reality in the NHS.”

He said the immense efforts by doctors to improve care had been noticed, which was “gratifying”.

EMERGENCY ADMISSIONS CANCELLED!

16.05.07, 12:44pm

Or maybe we prefer the cancellation of eleven pre booked admissions because one emergency admission is of the wrong sex.

Best laid plans of mice and men and all that but ask the one in the ten if they prefer to cancel and wait for the next opportunity to be in a single sex ward.

Let them choose but the emergency patient may not be able to decide just ask him live in a mixed sex ward or die on the street to make it easy.

I can see a reason for someone complaining if
a bed on a suitable male or female ward were free for example, but who would argue that someone should die for their dignity? NOT I GUNGADIN!

Stop whinging these things will happen as long as common sense prevails, people will not be refused emergency treatment because they are the wrong sex and their presence may offend someone elses dignity.

• Posted by: The_Way_I_See_It • Report Comment