Should we have mixed-sex wards?
 

Health minister Lord Darzi says that banning mixed-sex wards was "an aspiration that cannot be met". In fact, one in ten patients is treated in a mixed-sex NHS ward, despite government promises to abolish them a decade ago.
Have you been treated in a mixed-sex ward?
Would it bother you if you were?
Should we abolish this?

I have never been in a mixed sex ward, only time iv been in hospital is having my kids:rolleyes:, be strange and a miracle if there were:p, anyway...i personally would not like this at all, dont like the idea of sleeping in my bed and some strange man sleeping next to me, i wouldnt be able to sleep:(........things like this make me think about going private too:(

IT SHOULD BE ABOLISHED!

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You want to be in our shoes and think about whats it like to sleep next to strange women..... frightening :D

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When i had my Heart attack i was treated in a mixed ward and really i was too ill to really bother or notice.
i was transferred from intensive care at BRI to the heart ward at QPH

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Thought you would have liked that:D

anyway i have had to be on a recovery ward with a male, i had an operation went into the recovery room, i was laying there in my hospital gown still half asleep and i needed a pee, i got up out of the bed you should have seen the poor blokes face, i stumbled around the room looking for a loo, nurse came in and shouted at me for getting out of bed, i must have flashed my backside to him a few times (without knowing) i think it might have made him come round a bit quicker. Well i dont think any ward should be mixed otherwise why not have mixed sex toilets and changing rooms.

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i was once put in a female ward at BRI, cos was no room in the male, was not a happy bunny, did not like it at all, so i am dead against mixed sex wards.:(

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Shared sex wards are a loss of dignity at a time of vulnerability.
I think that I would have difficulty sleeping whilst feeling unsafe and vulnerable.
That, along with the trash food, and poor hygiene, are all reasons why hospitals are
not good for your health :D

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Yet another broken promise from the government. It's disgraceful and demeaning that mixed-sex wards should still exist. Obviously it's all down to money, but it's strange that the government can find the cash for failed computer projects and swathes of bureaucracy in the NHS, not to mention failed military adventures in foreign countries.

Willow's raised an interesting point though...I wonder how they do deal with muslim women in hospital? If my wife had to endure the indignity of a mixed-sex ward, while muslim females were in single-sex wards, I'd play merry hell! :mad:

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I didn't even realise that wards could be the same sex other than maternity wards. I don't think it would bother me, as long as they weren't a known danger to me.

You can't really live life fearing an attack at every possible opportunity in my opinion. Theres probably more chance being killed by a boy racer than being molested or sexually assaulted by a strange man in the hospital bed next to you. Doesn't mean I am going to avoid crossing the road though, that would be OTT.

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iv been treated on a mixed sex ward

well she said it was a treat then demanded £20

mind you those poor nurses have to top up their wages somehow i guess:rolleyes:

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my sister was on a mixed sex ward but they were seperated by bays, men in one bay and women in another, on the same ward though.

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we dont share public toilets, or changing rooms at the swimming baths etc.... so why should we share wards?......

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The only reason mixed sex wards can not be provided are cost.
It would seem that we can afford to invade foreign lands but not provide decent facilities for our own sick.

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its more about " Dignity" than being attacked, one day even you may have some.:D

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They should be abolished, in a group of men there is always one who pees all over the loo seat, or doesnt put the seat back down! lol

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Don't they have curtains to cover your dignity? And bed covers?

Am I missing something? As far as I have ever been aware, you are clothed when you are visible in the hospital and sit in your bed eating, reading, watching the telly etc.

Who's to say there is even any dignity of being visible to the same sex? I dont even strip off in the changing room, so being in with all women wouldn't make me feel anymore dignified if I had a problem with the wards.

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Lord Darzi says that we would have to build a whole new lot of hospitals to ensure tha people were nursed on same sex wards.....what a load of Tosh that is.
Just suppose there are two medical wards....ward A......and ward B.......designate Ward A as female medical, and ward B as male medical......problem solved.

Blazey curtains may cover the dignity of sight, but not of sound......imagine a constipated old man trying to relieve his bowels.......get the picture.

As for being clothed, there are always times when patients are in a state of undress, and they may be confused by drugs, illness, or anaesthesia......this is when the covers are thrown off and bare bottoms are shown to all the world....not much dignity there.
I have known several old fellers who have walked around advertising their wedding tackle too.
Mixed sex wards should be abolished.

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And when doing some management training I was told that the words 'Can't be done' closes the mind to imaginative solutions.

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Ah well fair enough, I guess there are situations you could feel humiliated, though in my opinion it doesn't solve the problem of dignity. I dont want to show my bits to man or woman, but thats just one of the things that occurs inb hospital. I try to think that everyone has one so its nothing to be ashamed of. I thought women more than anything would be more conditioned than men about this due to smears, giving birth etc.

I haven't given birth but I watched my mother have my brother before anyone says 'what would you know' about giving birth.

There are worse situations of people losing their dignity than being in hospital after all. I have been in hospital and I cant say I was at all bothered about using the bed pan for all to hear. In fact I wasn't sure how your meant to position yourself over them so i found it rather amusing at the time. Embarrassing situations make me giggle nervously.

As for smears, I let people watch it being done for training purposes for my first one. Not quite dignified having your legs spread eagle for one nurse to peer in without letting several more trainees have a good look too, and believe me they watched so very attentively :D

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Well, dignity may not be that important to you, but to most people it is paramount.......and I know all about smears and such, having been the Sister on a Gynae unit for some 25 years. I also like to think that gives me some kind of grounding to say what most people feel about the infringement of their dignity.

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Common Sense it comes with maturity.

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This might be the case in some cases Blazey but not all.

My mother has had a heart attack followed by a stroke and has now lost her speach amongst other things.

She doesn't have her own nightie on anymore, she wears a hosptial gown which barely covers her, but that is so the nurses can see to her better (access for blood pressure and bloods and other things).

She also is not mentally stable at the moment, and thinks nothing of throwing her bed covers off.

She is in a side ward at the moment as she has an infection, but before that she was in a bay on a ward with only women in. That was fine, as the other women were fine with her. If she had been in a ward with men then it would have been a different story.

A patients dignity should be the paramount importance.

Not all patients are able to cover themselves up and sit on there bed and read magazines and watch television. I wish my mother could :(

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I have spent more than my fare share of time on mixed sex wards well the old "E3 at Queens Park" this wan't o bad as it was in two halves men one side women the other, plus separate toilets, but like some one else said in an earlier post you don't give a fig when your ill

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I guess it seems there are two sides of argument to this, and not everyone seems to care about it as much as others. perhaps this is why it isn't being dealt with anymore like promised.

I'm guessing BUPA have same sex wards rather than mixed in their hospitals?

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i assume they would have individual rooms, but thats only my guess.:confused:

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Worse than mixed-sex wards are mixed-sex clinics , tho I did have a buddy who picked up a Saturday night dinner date at one once ......kind of amusing when somone at the table asked where they had met :eek: :eek:
true story ... :cool: :cool:

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You do at some swimming baths, Nelson Wavelengths is one.

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The time before last when the NHS had me as a guest I was in a mixed sex ward with a domineering witch in the next bed who tried to run the ward.

When me and the chap on the other side were having a bit of a chat she would always poke her nose in and try to take over the conversation. She even tried to monopolise the conversation between a patient and the visitors. It’s no wonder her husband never stayed long and she had no other visitors.

So it’s NO, NO, and thrice NO to mixed sex wards.

It is also NO for bringing kids into adult wards. Not from my viewpoint but from theirs.

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I think that whilst adult wards can be a scary place for a young child, witnessing sickness and death is inevitable in life and its better to experience it from a young age than be blind to it til you're an adult. Just from my own experiences.

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I wouldnt witness a death on anybody, loosing a close relative is the most horrific thing anyone can go through, and i wouldnt wish any child going through that!

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Of course it is Panther, but only perhaps 80 years ago, death was treated in a different way, even child deaths .. obviously, lots of babies died then, and remember Mum saying how they used to parade around the open coffin of adults and children alike to say their goodbyes. Was treated as the natural thing to do .. with no lasting effects.

As for mixed wards .. No Way Olay (sp) .. get bloody constipated on holidays due to not wanting to go to strange toilets .. blooming hek, the thought of a male next to me in a bed listening to my efforts would not help the situation. Had a 10-day stay in hospital flat on me back once, and believe me doing it in a bedpan horizontally 'aint easy .. :D Only the help of a load of peaches by a visitor and the threat of a manual by nursing staff, encouraged the situation (and I was in a private ward).

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what kind of manual were you offered ? auto repair ? DIY ? ;) ;)

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No, steeljack it was one with a spoon and a pair of industrial latex gloves......I hope you can picture it.:D

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No .......they don't do that .....do they ? :eek: :eek:

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Yes but the NHS can't afford spoons these days, it's latex gloves and fingers now. :D

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Well, fingers are a bit softer than spoons, as long as the nails are well trimmed :D

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I have a hindu friend and he says he dreads family deaths because everyone has to kiss the corpse on the lips.

I think that it's quite interesting that a culture does something like that. Death shouldn't be avoided or covered up, particularly not to children. I think its better children are taught about all aspects of life and that includes death.

There isn't anything useful about being brought up naive about things that are natural.

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i'm not quite sure which bit you are referring to as 'it', so I cant comment back to that.