Hospitals’ £135,000 fine for mixed wards

AN NHS hospitals trust was fined £135,000 after breaches of rules banning mixed-sex wards more than quadrupled.

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust recorded 809 breaches of mixed-sex accommodation rules in the 12 months ending in August, a 350 per cent increase from 177 the previous year.

The NHS said trusts were expected to have a “zero-tolerance” approach to placing men and women on the same wards, which it said was essential to ensure safety, privacy and dignity.

Recent guidance said transgender patients, and those who considered themselves “non-binary” could choose to be treated on male or female wards, depending on how they identified.

Trusts were supposed to be fined £250 per patient each time the rules were broken, which meant the Oxford trust faced penalties of up to £202,300.

However, much of the enforcement was left to clinical commissioning groups, not all of whom sought to impose fines, meaning the trust was fined £134,500. In the rest of the country, the number of breaches fell by 65 per cent.

The ban applies to sleeping accommodation, including any area where patients are admitted on beds or trolleys even if they do not stay overnight. It excludes instances, such as intensive care, where mixed accommodation is considered justified.

Sam Foster, the trust’s chief nursing officer, said: “When people are admitted to hospital they have a right to same-sex accommodation. We consider every case individually, and balance the safety risks of our patients being in the right care environment against a mixedsex breach. If appropriate, we do this in conversation with our patients.”

The Oxford trust had the seventh highest number of breaches.

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust had the worst figure, with 2,257 breaches, up from 1,367 the previous year. The highest rise was at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals Trust, with a 473 per cent increase in cases, from 259 to 1,485.