Planned Improvements Will Reduce Mixed Sex Accommodation Throughout Somerset's Community Hospitals, England

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 24 May 2009 - 0:00 PDT

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Hospital facilities upgrades due for completion by June 2009. Measures to reduce and eventually eliminate mixed sex wards and washing facilities throughout Somerset's 13 community hospitals are nearing completion. Last year the government pledged to reduce mixed sex accommodation throughout all England's NHS hospitals. All hospitals have now stepped up their efforts to deliver this goal.

Somerset Community Health, (the service provision arm of Somerset Primary Care Trust) recently completed a review of the measures it needed to take in order to reduce mixed sex accommodation and washing or toileting facilities within its community hospitals.

Community hospitals in Somerset are complying with key standards. These include:

- Ensuring washing and toilet facilities are clearly designated as male or female so that men and women do not have to share

- Ensuring male and female patients do not need pass through opposite sex accommodation when accessing their own toileting and washing facilities

- Ensuring there is adequate separation of sleeping accommodation for men and women, with sufficiently robust partitions to prevent overlooking or hearing

- Ensuring toilet and washing facilities are lockable from the inside, but still accessible to staff in the event of an emergency

The majority of the outstanding measures identified within the Trust's review are expected to be achievable, despite the age and configuration of some of its existing hospital buildings.

For instance, within some hospitals, these measures have been as basic as upgrading signs in toilet and washing facilities, adding additional privacy curtains and installing new door locks. At Minehead Community Hospital more comprehensive building work has been necessary. This includes extra building work to redevelop the male hospital ward and improve partitioning in the female bathroom and washrooms. Work started on site last month and has already been completed.

In all cases, the necessary works within the community hospitals will be completed by the end of June 2009.

Over the next three to four years three new community hospitals are set to replace the old and outdated hospitals in Minehead, South Petherton and Bridgwater. Construction plans for these new hospitals will ensure they deliver a significantly improved environment for the care of patients and the necessary single sex accommodation and facilities.

Commenting upon the progress already made to reduce mixed sex accommodation within Somerset's community hospitals, Judith Brown, Chief Operating Officer for Somerset Community Health, said:

"We are committed to ensuring patients experience a high standard of privacy and dignity throughout all our community hospitals, and the reduction and eventual elimination of mixed sex accommodation is an important part of this process. Significant improvements have been made to the configuration of our wards, as well as washing and toileting facilities, and we are well on the way to reducing mixed sex accommodation and facilities still further."

Source
Somerset

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