Same Sex Accommodation

"Our Patients rightly expect to be treated with dignity and respect in their contact with NHS services and this is a top priority for us. We know that patients can find sharing treatment areas with the opposite sex both unsettling and undignified, especially the elderly and vulnerable. It would be a great shame if the experience of mixed sex environments distracted from the quality treatment that is being provided by our doctors and nurses."

Peter Blythin, Director of Nursing and Workforce, NHS West Midlands

The NHS Constitution places great importance on patients’ experiences of privacy and dignity and same-sex accommodation plays a significant part in this. In the West Midlands we are spending over £10m to make sure that we deliver same sex accommodation.

Same-sex accommodation is important to patients, their family and friends and NHS staff in the West Midlands. We are committed to providing same-sex accommodation for those patients staying overnight in our hospitals. Same-sex accommodation means that patients shouldn’t expect to share sleeping, washing or toilet facilities with a member of the opposite sex.

There will be some instances, emergencies for example, where urgent medical care will take precedence over same-sex accommodation - patients would never be turned away just because a “right-sex” bed is not available immediately.

All NHS hospitals in the West Midlands have plans to eliminate any remaining shared sex accommodation in hospitals across the region by 2010/11.

For more information on same-sex accommodation in hospitals where you live click on an organisation below: