Trust bosses hit back over hospital privacy

The trust running Stafford and Cannock hospitals has defended itself against claims that it is among a handful not meeting standards for privacy.

Tories say mixed-sex wards at the hospitals are far from being abolished.

They say this has happened at the hospitals run by the Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust, even though the Government has given assurances the goal was within "touching distance". Figures were obtained by the Conservative Party under the Freedom of Information Act.

They drew them from 110 NHS trusts across the country which suggested two-thirds were still failing to meet set standards.

Mid Staffordshire was said to be among 15 which admitted it still does not meet standards on providing curtains and partitions to full height to ensure privacy.

Mid Staffordshire, along with the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals and University Hospital Birmingham also said some patients have to walk through mixed-sex areas to use the toilet.

Helen Perren, head of marketing for the Mid Staffs Foundation Tust, said today: "All of our curtains reach at least seven feet high with a small gap at the bottom to ensure that all areas can be effectively cleaned.

"Our patients are nursed in single sex bays and only on a very rare occasion patients, for emergency and specialist reasons, may have to be treated for a short period of time in a mixed bay. "We do everything possible to ensure this is kept to a minimum.Ê

She added: "Our recent survey, carried out earlier this month by the leading independent researchers Ipsos MORI, asked over 900 patients and their visitors about their treatment in relation to respect and dignity.

"The majority - 97 per cent - reported that they felt they were treated with respect and dignity. In addition, 78 per cent said that the treatment they or their relative had received was either very good or excellent."

And she added that the trust was "by no means complacent". Health Secretary Alan Johnson recently said mixed-sex accommodation will be abolished within a year, adding the goal was within "touching distance".