asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by the then Minister of Health, Hazel Blears, on 11 March 2002 (HC Deb, 847W), whether the compliance for privacy in mixed-sex wards, as set out in the Table of Mixed Sex Hospital Accommodation (Objective One) on the Department of Health’s website, requires partitions which are permanent, rigid and fixed to the building structure. [HL1520]

Objective 1 requires that,

“appropriate organisational arrangements are in place to secure good standards of privacy and dignity for hospital patients”.

Good standards can be achieved in wards that are partitioned into bays, as long as screening is adequate to ensure that privacy is maintained. Partitions in this case should be permanent, rigid and fixed to the building structure.