Mixed sex wards used a record 5,000 times in a single month – despite Wes Streeting condemning practice
The use of mixed-gender wards in hospitals in England has risen to the highest number in a single month for nearly 15 years, despite health secretary Wes Streeting harshly criticizing the practice under the last Conservative government.
NHS England’s official figures show strict rules on their use were breached more than 5,000 times in January, for the first time since 2011.
October, the most recent month for which data is available, saw 4,801 breaches, up from 3,953. It was recorded in the same month that the Conservatives were in charge of healthcare in 2023.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has opposed the practice, which it says is “dishonorable and unsafe”, calling for urgent investment to increase both bed capacity and the ability for people to receive treatment at home and away from crowded hospitals.
In response to questions from The Independent, the government said it was “unacceptable” for patients to share dormitories with members of the opposite sex and issued a “robust” reminder of hospital trust on this point.
Before last year’s general election, Mr Streeting criticized the continued use of mixed-gender wards, which he said was “over the top” under the last Conservative government.
According to official guidance updated in 2012, patients should not share wards overnight, share bathroom facilities or have to pass through 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-gender ward breaches have reached their highest point in more than a decade.
“No patient should feel exposed or unsafe, yet thousands of patients do.”
Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, said the safety, dignity and clinical needs of patients were always the top priority, but added: “Sometimes people in mixed wards cannot be helped to care for due to extreme pressure on available beds.”
He said NHS trusts were doing their best to avoid this, but “sometimes it is better to care for a patient in a mixed ward than to have to treat someone in a temporary area such as a corridor due to lack of available beds – which can be due to many factors, such as very high demand or delays in discharge of some patients who are well enough to leave hospital but have nowhere to go.”
The number of violations last rose above 5,000 in March 2011; This was three months after the NHS began recording figures following a massive public outcry. By May of that year they had fallen to fewer than 2,000 a month, and by the end of the year their numbers had reached only hundreds.
And they stayed that way until late 2017, when they started climbing again. There were several months under the last Conservative government when the number of breaches exceeded 4,000.
Mr Streeting said at the time that patients were left at risk and felt humiliated, but in January the figure exceeded 5,000 in a month for the first time under Labor, official figures show. That month the rules were broken 5,180 times; this rate was 2.7 percent. A year ago, before Labor came to power, the figure was 4,404, a rate of 2.6 per cent. In December, the figure was 4,549; this was also higher than the previous year’s 3,522 (2.7 percent versus 2.7 percent). June also saw 4,559 and 3,881 violations compared to the same month the previous year (2.5 percent versus 2.2 percent).
The highest figure recorded even during the Covid pandemic was 4,929 in February 2020, but the count was delayed until October that year as the NHS came under pressure.
Lynn Woolsey, chief nursing officer of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “The rise of mixed-gender ward breaches is a sign that a healthcare service is under serious pressure, with too little space and too few beds to meet growing demand. It is common for patients to be placed in corridors or even shop cupboards, leaving understaffed and overworked care teams to treat patients in crowded environments without easy access to life-saving equipment. The practice is undignified, unsafe and cannot continue.”
“The Secretary of State must act with urgent investment to increase hospital bed capacity and improve nurse staffing levels and, importantly, fund community teams to ensure people can be treated at home and away from busy hospitals.”
Liberal Democrat health spokeswoman Helen Morgan said: “A stay in hospital is one of the most stressful and vulnerable situations any of us can experience. It is completely unacceptable for patients to be forced into mixed-gender wards, fueling the fires of stress and anxiety.”
“Every patient deserves to be comfortable, to be treated with dignity and respect, and not to be left in inappropriate conditions due to overcrowded wards.
“This situation will worsen in the face of the winter crisis. The government needs to put forward an emergency package with extra social care places and more staffed beds, otherwise patients will continue to face unacceptable conditions.”
A government spokesman said: “The use of mixed-gender wards has skyrocketed under the Conservatives and is another sign of how much the NHS has suffered under their control.
“As we seek to undo the harm they have done, we have made clear that the safety, dignity and privacy of patients is paramount and the NHS Trust is expected to eliminate mixed-gender accommodation.
“Even at a time when flu cases are high and demand for services is at unprecedented levels, it is unacceptable for patients to sleep in the same bed with members of the opposite sex and trusts are strongly reminded of this.”
