Hospital fines for mixed-sex wards

Fines will be imposed on NHS hospitals which continue to treat patients in mixed-sex wards, the Government has said.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley is to detail the threat to remove funding in a bid finally to end a practice long condemned by politicians.

The sanctions will only come into force in April however, three months after the coalition’s initial target for having only single-sex accommodation.

Mr Lansley has included the tougher regime in an NHS operating framework setting priorities for the next year which he is publishing on Wednesday.

Alongside the publication of the framework, primary care trusts (PCTs) will learn how much they will have to spend in the coming year. PCTs and strategic health authorities are to be abolished as part of a major structural shake-up of the health system which will see control of the bulk of the NHS budget transferring to GPs by 2013.

Governments have been struggling for 15 years to finish the practice of men and women sharing wards and the coalition has renewed Labour’s commitment.

Mr Lansley said in August that it would be ended in all but accident and emergency and intensive care units by the end of the year.

Under the plans, hospitals face losing part of the funding for a patient if they have to share with the opposite sex unless they have consented to it. Shared bathrooms and toilets will be deemed unacceptable as well as the need to pass through areas occupied by the opposite sex, the Daily Telegraph reported.

A panel of senior officials will judge whether cases reported via a special software system are justified with bed and staff shortages not accepted as justification.

A Department of Health (DoH) spokeswoman said: “It is vital that the NHS supports patients by protecting their dignity. The provision of single sex accommodation is essential for this. That’s why the NHS will enforce sanctions on breaches of mixed-sex accommodation and why we will publish data on breaches. Patients will use the information to inform their choice of hospital. There will be no let-up in our drive to improve patient safety, outcomes and patient experience.”