Hospitals face fines of £665,000 after flouting new single-sex accommodation rules
Four in ten hospitals face fines totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds after failing to ensure patients are treated in single-sex environments.
The privacy and dignity fines came into force on April 1 and figures released by the Department of Health show that, over that month, a total of 2,660 breaches were recorded. For each person treated in a mixed-sex ward, the operating trust will be fined £250. That means that if one woman is treated in a bay with five men, the trust will pay the fine six times over.
While the breach rate is a lot lower than the recorded rate of 11,802 in December last year, and 51% lower than in March, it still means NHS organisations will collectively pay around £665,000 for the month of April.
Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, said: "Mixed-sex accommodation has no place in a modern NHS that puts patients first. Greater transparency has now driven unjustified mixed-sex accommodation down by over three quarters since December, but there are still too many breaches, which is why hospitals will now be fined £250 for every breach they make. This money will be re-invested back into patient care.
Mixed-sex accommodation has no place in a modern NHS that puts patients first
"We want to shine a spotlight on the quality of care provided to patients. Individual hospital trusts must explain why they break the rules and the public will be able to hold them to account. Our information revolution will take transparency in the NSH to a new level. Patients will be able to vote with their feet and choose a hospital with less mixed-sex accommodation."
The figures show that, of the 166 acute hospital trusts that submitted data, 59% reported no breaches at all, compared to 52% in March. Additionally, 59 of the trusts that admitted breaches in March reported fewer breaches last month, with 18 reporting an increase in incidents of patients being treated in mixed-sex accommodation.
Our information revolution will take transparency in the NSH to a new level. Patients will be able to vote with their feet and choose a hospital with less mixed-sex accommodation
The strategic health authority with the highest breach rate was London, with 658 incidents. The worst-performing trust was Barts and The London, run by Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, with 433 breaches.
A report by Barts and The London NHS Trust recognises the problems, claiming they are being addressed and should mean the organisation is compliant by April 2012.
The document states: "Our aim is to have the necessary facilities, resources and culture to ensure 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 intensive care, coronary care units or the hyper acute stroke unit, or when patients actively choose to share, for instance in the chemotherapy day unit or renal dialysis."
The report adds that the trust is currently in the middle of delivering £1billion worth of estates improvements, which will lead to better inpatient facilities.