Mixed-sex wards

Our recent feature on the growing number of mixed-sex wards prompted a big postbag. Thank you to everyone who wrote or emailed in. Here are some of your thoughts

Living in the Middle Ages?

Your article on whether it’s time to end mixed-sex wards raises important issues about the dignity that should be accorded to people when they are at their most vulnerable. At a time when peace of mind is essential to a full recovery, the last thing female patients need is the worry that a member of the opposite sex could be staring/leering at them, particularly when they are in a state of partial undress, or if a nurse hasn’t closed the curtains around their bed properly. Are we living in the Middle Ages when NHS hospitals have no choice but to lump both sexes together in mixed wards? Geraldine Faulkner, by email

Bedside shock

An elderly friend of ours was staying in a South Wales hospital and woke one morning to find not only that there was a man in the next bed to her, but he was handcuffed to the bed and guarded by a policeman! To be fair, this was probably nearly 20 years ago but it did give her a shock. I have stayed in a small cottage hospital in Scotland where wards were mixed but the rooms were separate and male patients were at the other end of the corridor. It was never a problem. Pam Lye, by email

I’d be scared

I am 76 and due to go into hospital for an operation, but would feel very afraid if I were on a mixed-sex ward. Miss F French, Herts

Better than long waiting lists

Many years ago I was in a mixedsex hospital ward while I waited for an operation. There was a curtain between the sexes and we used separate toilets. There were no problems. While it’s not ideal, surely it’s better than being on long waiting lists for treatment? Ann Martin, Ickenham, Middx

My mum was helped

In 1975, my mother (58) went into hospital for a knee op and was shocked to find she was going to be in a mixedsex ward. Neither she, nor my father, were very pleased. However, the next day she was lively and happy and had got to know the other patients. She was obviously very comfortable with the mixed ward and I think it even speeded her recovery as she quite liked the attention she got! Ann Rowe, London

Underfunding is an excuse

Mixed-sex wards have no place in a modern health service. Underfunding and retaining ‘free’ treatment are used as excuses for the continuation of this outmoded practice. NHS treatment is not ‘free’, but financed through universal taxation and could be spent more wisely. As a former NHS employee, I know that those who are running the NHS are often over-paid and waste money. Mrs C Fletcher, Essex

Use a spare room?

Our population is living longer and the growing needs have overloaded NHS hospital usage. Could the current bed crisis be solved by the latest idea in the news of putting a patient in your spare room at home and earning £1,000 a month? J Pettit, Bedford