About us | Improving clinical quality | Delivering same sex accommodation

Delivering same sex accommodation

Declaration of compliance

Barts and The London NHS Trust is pleased to confirm that we are compliant with the Government’s requirement to eliminate mixed-sex accommodation, except when it is in the patient’s overall best interest, or reflects their personal choice. We have 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 toilets and bathrooms will be close to their bed area. Sharing with members of the opposite sex will only happen when clinically necessary (for example where patients need specialist equipment such as in intensive care, coronary care unit or the hyper acute stroke unit (HASU), or when patients actively choose to share for instance in the chemotherapy day unit or renal dialysis.

If our care should fall short of the required standard, we will report it. We will also set up an audit mechanism to make sure that we do not misclassify any of our reports. We will publish the results of that audit at our regular quality review meetings with our commissioners.  You can also find more information on the Department of Health website [link]

Sleeping accommodation does not include areas where patients have not been admitted, such as accident and emergency cubicles.

What does this mean for patients?

Other than in the circumstances set out above, patients admitted to Barts and

The London NHS Trust can expect to find the following:

Same sex-accommodation means:

  • The room where your bed is will only have patients of the same sex as you
  • Your toilet and bathroom will be just for your gender, and will be close to your bed area It is possible that there will be both men and women patients on the ward, but they will not share your sleeping area. You may have to cross a ward corridor to reach your bathroom, but you will not have to walk through opposite-sex areas.

You may share some communal space, such as day rooms or dining rooms, and it is very likely that you will see both men and women patients as you move around the hospital (e.g. on your way to X-ray or the operating theatre).

It is probable that visitors of the opposite gender will come into the room where your bed is and this may include patients visiting each other.

It is almost certain that both male and female nurses, doctors and other staff will come into your bed area.

If you need help to have a bath (e.g. you need a hoist or special bath) then you may be taken to a “unisex” bathroom used by both men and women, but a member of staff will be with you, and other patients will not be in the bathroom at the same time.

What are our plans for the future?

Barts and The London NHS Trust is in the middle of delivering a £1 billion new hospitals development – the largest in the world. This will ensure that our patients receive their care in world-class facilities.

The first phase of this development, the Barts Cancer Centre, started treating patients in March 2010. Barts Cancer Centre provides an outstanding new environment for clinical care and key support services. The recent opening of the new Royal London Hospital has seen these same standards of care and environment replicated for the people of East London. Patients at Barts and The Royal London can now enjoy:

  • More space – a spacious layout with a 25% increase on the space for each

patient compared with our previous hospital layout.

  • Clinical layout – the layout and facilities within departments has benefited from the input of clinicians to ensure they are best suited to provide safe and patient focused clinical care, in line with their needs for privacy, dignity and comfort.
  • Ward accommodation – more than 40% of the ward accommodation is

provided in single rooms with en-suite bathroom facilities, with the remainder as roomy two-bedded and four-bedded bays, also with en-suite bathrooms.

For those areas that are not currently moving in to new facilities, the Trust has invested in upgrading its current sleeping accommodation and new toilet and bathroom signage to ensure you are clear about the single sex facilities available to you. The Trust has also produced information leaflets and posters to help ensure you are informed about our commitment to maintaining your privacy and dignity which includes the provision of single sex accommodation. On your admission ward staff will tell you about the ward and the facilities available to you.

Where it has been needed, the Trust has undertaken minor works to deliver mixed-sex accommodation and improve privacy and dignity by installing a fourth wall to single sex bays to create a fully enclosed bay.  To further improve privacy and dignity an opaque film on windows in ‘public’ corridors within the ward environment has been undertaken.

To ensure ongoing commitment to your privacy and dignity the Trust will closely monitor any breach of the single sex accommodation standard so that continual improvements can be made to improve your experience of our services. As part of this commitment the Trust will:

  • Obtain your feedback and ensure it is used to improve your experience and

the experience of other patients.

  • Update the Trust eliminating mixed sex accommodation self-declaration as improvements are made.

How will we measure success?

The Trust will measure success by:

  • Improved results and positive feedback from patient surveys such as the Care Quality Commission National Inpatient Survey and Trust discharge and other local surveys.
  • Positive patient stories, compliments and other feedback and engagement activities.
  • Performance against the elimination of mixed-sex accommodation will be  reported to the Department of Health and monitored by the Trust Board.

What do I do if I think I am in mixed sex accommodation?

We want to know about your experiences. Please contact:

  • A member of the ward team in the first instance if you have any worries or concerns or alternatively the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) on: 020 7943 1335.
  • The Head of Patient Quality on: 0207 377 7446 or 7495 at The Royal London Hospital if you would like to share your experience.