What you should expect
Same sex accommodation means that only patients of the same sex (i.e. men or women) will sleep in the same bay or ward and use the same washing and toilet facilities. The majority of our patients can expect to stay in same sex accommodation but there may be occasions when it is not possible to care for all patients in a same-sex environment. This is most likely to happen if a patient needs emergency or specialist care where patient safety and clinical needs are our first priority.
We have met the same sex accommodation standard in all of our hospitals. We have an action plan to make sure we measure and maintain the same sex accommodation standard in all our hospitals.
Our eliminating mixed sex accommodation declaration of compliance
Declaration of compliance
The Trust is pleased to confirm that it is compliant with the Government’s requirement to eliminate mixed-sex accommodation, except when it is not in a patient’s overall best overall interest, or reflects their personal choice. The Trust has the necessary facilities, resources and culture to ensure that patients who are admitted to our hospitals will only share the room where they sleep with members of the same sex, and same-sex bathrooms and toilets will be close to their bed area.
Sharing with members of the opposite sex only happens where clinically necessary – for example where patients need specialist equipment such as in our coronary care or intensive care units, or where patients choose actively to share (such as in our renal dialysis units)
If our care should fall short of the required standard for same-sex accommodation, we will report it. We also have an audit mechanism to ensure that we do not miss-classify any of our reports.
