Ashford and St. Peter’s Hospitals and patient representatives work together on Mixed Sex Bays

Ashford and St. Peter’s Hospitals has taken action on the issue of mixed sex bays (areas within wards) with the support of the Patient and Public Involvement Forum (PPI), who monitor the activities of the hospitals NHS Trust and the Trust’s own Patient Panel.

Associate Director of Nursing, Ruth Lallmahomed commented: “We were concerned that mixed sex bays were occurring too often and recognised this as a significant issue. We have put in place a number of initiatives to keep the use of mixed sex bays to a minimum and this has been supported by our own Patient Panel and the independent Patient and Public Involvement Forum (PPIF). There are times when beds are at a premium in the hospitals and we have to put male and female patients in the same bay, however we are working to ensure that the bays within our ward areas are single sex whenever possible.”

The initiatives taken to reduce the incidence of mixed sex bays are:

·          The system of data collection has been changed from once a week to twice during each 24 hour period.   Data is now collected between midnight and 2.00a.m. and then again between 12:00 and 14:00hrs.

·          The information from reporting is now discussed twice daily at 11:30 and 15:30hrs at our Capacity meetings with the aim of challenging the current position and planning to ‘unmix’ any bays.   This is assisted by a new planning tool developed to assist staff to take action.

·          The information is also reviewed on a daily basis by the Divisional Head of Nursing and the Matrons during their regular daily visits to the Wards.

·          Fortnightly monitoring meetings are now being held to review progress and to ensure that staff across the whole hospital are working together to reduce the incidence of mixed bays and ensure that they are only used in exceptional circumstances.

Ruth continued: “The publication of the report by the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) is a welcome step and highlights many of the issues faced by the NHS today in trying to provide single sex accommodation.   There is no doubt that we can reduce the use of mixed sex bays and the action we have taken shows that it is possible to improve management in this area but as the CNO identifies, action is required at all levels.”