Mixed-sex Wards

Mr. Lansley
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will publish the reports she received on mixed- sex wards from strategic health authorities on 11 December 2006.

Ms Rosie Winterton
The information gained from strategic health authorities will inform the future direction of this policy area. The timescale for any publication is yet to be determined.

Mr. Waterson
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) male-only wards, (b) female-only wards, (c) mixed sex wards and (d) wards divided by partition into male and female areas there are in each hospital in East Sussex.

Ms Rosie Winterton
The information is not available in the format requested.

Between 1998 and 2005, the provision of single-sex accommodation was measured according to as compliance at national health service trust level with three objectives set by the Department. These objectives have been superseded by the core national standards presented in “Standards for Better Health”.

The core standards require that:

(C13a) Staff treat patients, their relatives and carers with dignity and respect and

(C20b) Health care services are provided in environments which promote effective care and optimize health outcomes by being supportive of patient privacy and confidentiality.

Currently, five trusts report that they do not meet Standard C13a and 15 trusts report that they do not meet standard C20b.

Previously, compliance was measured annually at trust level. The results of the most recent compliance survey (December 2004) show that:

99 per cent. of NHS trusts provided single-sex sleeping accommodation for planned admissions and had robust operational policies in place to protect patients’ privacy and dignity;

99 per cent. of NHS trusts met the additional criteria set to ensure the safety of patients who are mentally ill;

97 per cent. of NHS trusts provided properly segregated bathroom and toilet facilities for men and women.

The small number of hospitals that did not achieve these objectives are building new hospitals.

The 2004 position of each NHS Trust (including the NHS trusts in East Sussex) was published on 26 May 2005 and is available on the Department's website at www.dh.gov.uk and in the Library.

Mr. Dunne
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) male-only wards, (b) female-only wards, (c) mixed sex wards and (d) wards divided by partition into sexes there are in each hospital in Shropshire and Telford.

Ms Rosie Winterton
The information is not available in the format requested.

Between 1998 and 2005, the provision of single-sex accommodation was measured according to compliance at national health service trust level with three objectives set by the Department. These objectives have been superseded by the core national standards presented in “Standards for Better Health”.

The core standards require that:

(C13a) Staff treat patients, their relatives and carers with dignity and respect; and

(C20b) Health care services are provided in environments which promote effective care and optimize health outcomes by being supportive of patient privacy and confidentiality.

Currently, five NHS trusts report that they do not meet Standard C13a and 15 NHS trusts report that they do not meet standard C20b.

Previously, compliance was measured annually at trust level. The results of the most recent compliance survey (December 2004) show that:

99 per cent. of NHS trusts provided single-sex sleeping accommodation for planned admissions and had robust operational policies in place to protect patients’ privacy and dignity;

99 per cent. of NHS trusts met the additional criteria set to ensure the safety of patients who are mentally ill; and

97 per cent. of NHS trusts provided properly segregated bathroom and toilet facilities for men and women.

The small number of hospitals who did not achieve these objectives are building new hospitals.

The 2004 position of each NHS trust, including the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, was published on 26 May 2005 and is available on the Department's website at www.dh.gov.uk and in the Library.