Justice At Last On Mixed Sex Wards Scandal
Main Category: Mental HealthAlso Included In: Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 29 Jan 2009 - 2:00 PDT
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Today the Health Secretary Alan Johnson has announced a package of measures aimed at eliminating mixed sex wards.
Commenting on the plans, Mind's Chief Executive Paul Farmer said:
"We warmly welcome the £100m investment announced today by the Government towards finally abolishing mixed sex wards. For too long now vulnerable mental health inpatients have been put in mixed ward environments where they have no privacy and are made to feel uncomfortable and even unsafe. Over three quarters of female mental health inpatients were treated in mixed sex accommodation last year; this is an unacceptable state of affairs and it is only right that this scandal is at last being addressed."
"Mental Health Trusts must now act swiftly to develop their plans to eliminate mixed sex accommodation and the new Care Quality Commission will face the challenge of monitoring this implementation. We will be holding the Government and the Care Quality Commission to account on this issue. It is vital that mental health wards are places where patients can feel confident and secure enough to progress towards recovery."
The latest Healthcare Commission Count Me In census which monitors the number of inpatients in mental health hospitals in England and Wales shows that 68% of mental health inpatients are still being housed on mixed sex wards. Women were even less likely to be given single-sex accommodation than men, with 78% treated on a mixed-sex ward in comparison to 61% of men.
Mind is the leading mental health charity in England and Wales. We work to create a better life for everyone with experience of mental distress.
MIND
Visit our mental health section for the latest news on this subject.
MLA
16 Feb. 2012. <http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/137084.php>
APA
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/137084.php.
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Its Not Just The UK
posted by Jules ward on 1 Feb 2009 at 1:42 amI must preface this opinion that first thing I ever blogged about when I got my first computer was the fact that the US was disgustingly making healthcare a business rather than a right of its citizens.
That said, I realize living in the UK patients may not be as fortunate in what happens and where they stay during a period of instability, extreme emotional duress, or even psychosis.
What I am trying to figure out is the place I spent a week in June of 2007. I am bipolar and was the most fragile I'd been in many many years. My husband and I had made arrangements long before that the facility I stayed at was where I would go when and if I needed hospitalization again. It had a fancy website and looked like a country club on the net. The last hospital I'd been in housed psychotics and people awaiting jail time right along with everyone else. VERY scary.
June 07: It was much cleaner and in a better part of the city. There were no patients awaiting jail I was aware of. But there were THREE psychotic males on my hall, one in the room next to mine and my roommate's. It was fine once they got meds balanced,but they were understaffed and it took an entire day for every violent to calm. Also, not that I don't have sympathy, 2/3rds of patients were addicts and alcoholics. This in turn caused most material in groups toward them and others left out in the cold, not really gaining much from it. I kicked pain pills, so I so understand addiction.
I just think, if you're going to adveritise yourself like a country club, take both high paying forms of insurance I have for my care, it should be less like a stay at "One flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." I was scared out of my mind the whole time that I'd get attached, I was "touched" but nothing serious.
Does anyone else think this way or am I witch? I guess I just figure if these asses want to make it a business instead of an equal right, then I expect better care, not to be exposed to crackheads and psychos who haven't been medicated. I'm paying for prime rib and receiving grilled cheese; with a possible razor blade hidden in it.
I wish the UK all the best of luck. I lived in Huntington for three wonderful years when I was in my early 20's and I LOVED it. I hope the division of sexes in hospitals is smooth, and that nurses and doctors multiply like rabbits. :)
PS I am a nurse; the irony.ugh
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