Hundreds of patients in the West Midlands were forced to stay in mixed-sex hospital wards last month, official government figures reveal today.

However, the situation should be a thing of the past after fines were introduced on April 1 for hospitals who failed to provide same sex accommodation. So far, troubled Stafford

Hospital is the only one in the Midlands set to be fined for failing to keep men and women apart on general wards — at £250 each time there is a breach of the rules.

It is expecting to be fined £750 after three patients were treated in a mixed-sex ward on the same day.

Figures show that in March, a total of 866 men and women found themselves in a ward with patients of the opposite sex.

These included 87 patients at Stafford Hospital, 51 at Walsall Manor Hospital, and 34 at Sandwell General Hospital.

Figures for Worcestershire Royal Hospital showed 311 were put in mixed-sex wards — the fourth highest number in the country.

Elsewhere, 132 patients found themselves in mixed-sex accommodation at City Hospital in Birmingham, 31 at Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, 16 at Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield and one each at Solihull Hospital and Birmingham Heartlands Hospital.

Hospital trusts in Dudley and Wolverhampton have stated that they keep men and women separate and have met deadlines.

Nationally, there were some 5,466 breaches — down by more than 2,137 on the previous month.

Walsall Manor Hospital has now announced it is compliant with same sex accommodation rules.

It will not be fined, despite being eight days late for the deadline, as bosses had put forward an action plan.

The Trust’s website said: “We have the necessary facilities, resources and culture to ensure that 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.”