Single Sex Accommodation
We are committed to ensuring high standards of privacy and dignity for people who use our services and carers. We already provide all overnight accommodation either through single sex bays or single rooms. Toilet and bathroom areas are all single sex.
In some of our units such as the Noel Lavin Unit at Guildford we provide single sex ward accommodation. In other areas we already provide single rooms.
Our wards have day areas for women as well as mixed sex day rooms and dining rooms, and it is very likely that you will see both male and female patients as you move around the hospital (e.g. on your way to daytime activities or therapy or in the garden).
It is almost certain that both male and female nurses, doctors and other staff will occasionally come into your bed area.
If you need help to use the toilet or take a bath (e.g. you need a hoist or special bath) then you may be taken to a “unisex” bathroom used by both men and women, but a member of staff will be with you, and other patients will not be in the bathroom at the same time.
Anyone who may have concerns about privacy and dignity during their stay with us is encouraged to immediately bring this to the attention of the ward or unit manager.
Download our single sex accommodation leaflet
Improving our accommodation
We have already improved the ensuite showers and toilets at Albert Ward and Victoria Ward at Farnham Road Hospital in Guildford thanks to a Delivering Single Sex Accommodation (DSSA) grant of £390,000. These projects were completed in September 2009 and have made a significant improvement to these wards.
We have an accommodation improvement programme in place for the next five years. This includes plans to provide up to date our 24 Hour Assessment and Treatment facilities. Our Delivery Plan sets out the improvements we intend to make, which you can download from the list of documents below.
Toilets and bathrooms are labelled as either male or female and ward staff will direct you to the correct areas.
Listening and responding to your experience
Feedback from the national inpatient survey indicates that some of you still feel anxious about sharing mixed sex wards despite the fact that all sleeping accommodation is single sex.
We are therefore providing leaflets and posters about DSSA in all our overnight accommodation and we encourage you to discuss these with your care coordinator or the nurse in charge.
We are continuing to gather feedback about your experience of single sex accommodation in our Trust and we will publish this on the website. This information will also be used to update our DSSA Delivery Plan.
Further Information
Find out more about how we are delivering single sex accommodation:
Find out more about national policy on single sex accommodation:
Department of Health - 17 Principles
The NHS Confederation's briefing - 'Same-sex accommodation: your privacy, our responsibility'
We always welcome suggestions about how to improve our environments so please talk to your ward manager, alternatively you can email our Director of Strategic Change, Pat Keeling, at pat.keeling@sabp.nhs.uk
Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust © 2013