HEALTH bosses in Hertfordshire have virtually eliminated mixed sex hospital wards more than a month ahead of target.
NHS Hertfordshire announced today it has met a national government target to ensure all wards were single sex by the end of March.
Not only acute hospitals, but all other residential units, such as mental health and specialist learning disability services, have now scrapped mixed wards, with all overnight patients in either single-sex wards or private rooms.
A few high dependency mixed hospital wards remain, but these will be gone by the March 31 deadline.
Catherine Pelley, of NHS Hertfordshire, said: “In Hertfordshire we take the privacy and dignity of all our patients very seriously – it is just not negotiable.
"I am really pleased that our community, hospital and mental health services feel the same way and have all achieved the standard that means they have got rid of mixed sex accommodation in their wards.”
The only exceptions may be a few patients who need very urgent or specialised care.
Jan Filochowski, chief executive of the West Hertfordshire Hospitals Trust, said: "The privacy and dignity of our patients has always been a high priority for the trust.
"Last summer we invested £1.8m in providing single-sex accommodation in all our hospitals."
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