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Thread: Sexual assault in mixed hospital wards

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    Sexual assault in mixed hospital wards

    Apparently there have been around 300 separate incidents of sexual assault in mixed wards in the last 3 years.

    I've only been in hospital to have babies so obviously I've been in wards only with other women. I had no idea that mixed wards even existed.

    I was shocked to hear about an 82 year old lady being sexually assaulted by a sex offender who was in the next bed to her, with just a curtain between them. The hospital say they are not entitled to know if someone is a sex offender due to patient confidentiality.

    Just imagine...in hospital, unwell, you have no idea if the man next to you is going to shove his winkle in your face in the middle of the night when you are sleeping and you have no idea if he is a convicted sex offender.

    I was also shocked to hear that you have absolutely no choice in the matter. You have to go where they decide to put you.

    Apparently it was one of Labours promises years ago when they came in to power to get rid of mixed wards. They are now saying it's an unrealistic goal and will never happen.

    Hospital wanted to transfer 'sex assault' pensioner to mixed ward | the Daily Mail

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    Re: Sexual assault in mixed hospital wards

    Mixed sex wards are usually fine; mixed sex bays are already supposedly phased out.
    I've been in mixed sex bays and they have been fine; the women did not suggest they were unhappy.

    Isn't this more a problem of security, than mixed sex wards? It's the vulnerability of the old lady suffering from dementia being put in the situation that is the real story.

    BTW, where did it say about patient confidentiality, DT? I didn't read that.

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    Re: Sexual assault in mixed hospital wards

    Quote Originally Posted by Barry Shnikov View Post
    BTW, where did it say about patient confidentiality, DT? I didn't read that.
    http://www.itv.com/Lifestyle/ThisMor...s/default.html

    I saw an interview on This Morning today with the ladies daughter and some other health minister (sorry can't remember his name).

    She said she had no idea that Dean Galley was a convicted sex offender until the case went to court. The Health minister said the hospital also did not know that Galley was a sex offender and that was due to patient confidentiality.

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    Re: Sexual assault in mixed hospital wards

    Quote Originally Posted by Double Trouble View Post
    http://www.itv.com/Lifestyle/ThisMor...s/default.html

    I saw an interview on This Morning today with the ladies daughter and some other health minister (sorry can't remember his name).

    She said she had no idea that Dean Galley was a convicted sex offender until the case went to court. The Health minister said the hospital also did not know that Galley was a sex offender and that was due to patient confidentiality.
    Well, it wouldn't be the first time that a minister has garbled the position.

    I wouldn't be at all surprised if nobody at the hospital or in fact any doctor at all was aware of his conviction - why would they be? My GP doesn't know about mine. Of course, it's not possible that there is simply, nobody at fault (other than the mixed-wards themselves) we need a scapegoat! And we need one now!

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    Re: Sexual assault in mixed hospital wards

    Quote Originally Posted by Double Trouble View Post
    I've only been in hospital to have babies so obviously I've been in wards only with other women. I had no idea that mixed wards even existed.

    Mixed age wards are much worse

    There was some old women (ill call her a fruit cake). That was shouting at night for her husband or who ever he was who had died 20yrs

    she was rude to staff and a totally pain for people trying to get to sleep

    I said cant they move her outside and they did

    Some people who are ill have such powerful lungs

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    Re: Sexual assault in mixed hospital wards

    Quote Originally Posted by Barry Shnikov View Post
    Of course, it's not possible that there is simply, nobody at fault (other than the mixed-wards themselves) we need a scapegoat! And we need one now!
    Ang on a cotton picking minute. The NHS allows convicted sex criminals to wander around mixed wards abusing old ladies (not to mention the other 300 cases over the last three years) and nobody is at fault?

    Surely it would be sensible to have single sex wards AND some kind of additional clause regarding confidentiality to protect patients from sex offenders.

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    Re: Sexual assault in mixed hospital wards

    Quote Originally Posted by Double Trouble View Post
    Ang on a cotton picking minute. The NHS allows convicted sex criminals to wander around mixed wards abusing old ladies (not to mention the other 300 cases over the last three years) and nobody is at fault?

    Surely it would be sensible to have single sex wards AND some kind of additional clause regarding confidentiality to protect patients from sex offenders.
    Single sex wards wont happen

    There was a 15% chance on a labour election pledge cira 1997

    There also not needed and not cost effective regardless of the odd head line

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    Re: Sexual assault in mixed hospital wards

    Quote Originally Posted by Double Trouble
    Ang on a cotton picking minute. The NHS allows convicted sex criminals to wander around mixed wards abusing old ladies (not to mention the other 300 cases over the last three years) and nobody is at fault?

    Surely it would be sensible to have single sex wards AND some kind of additional clause regarding confidentiality to protect patients from sex offenders.


    I don't buy the patient confidentiality excuse either. Surely patient confidentiality means that hospital staff aren't allowed to discuss a patients records with anyone not involved in their care? I fail to see how that would prevent the government from letting hospitals know about sex offenders.
    Last edited by Gav; 18th-February-2008 at 03:20 PM.

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    Re: Sexual assault in mixed hospital wards

    Quote Originally Posted by stewart38 View Post
    Single sex wards wont happen
    I know. I already said that.

    Quote Originally Posted by stewart38 View Post
    There also not needed and not cost effective regardless of the odd head line
    Rubbish. Take aside all of the nasty goings on with dirty criminals, there are plenty of reasons why mixed sex wards are totally unacceptable, especially for older folk who would be mortified at being seen in their pyjamas, having to share bathroom facilities, etc with members of the opposite sex. It's disgusting.

    It's so degrading and shows no respect for the dignity of patients and what THEY think is acceptable.

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    Re: Sexual assault in mixed hospital wards

    Quote Originally Posted by Barry Shnikov View Post
    I've been in mixed sex bays and they have been fine; the women did not suggest they were unhappy.

    It's the vulnerability of the old lady suffering from dementia being put in the situation that is the real story.
    I stayed in a mixed ward, single sex bay but my bed was near the showers and loo's (lucky me huh )

    One old guy, came out and stood there, looking completely lost with all his 'bits' hanging out. I personally wasn't offended (I felt too ill to be bothered anyway) but I felt sorry for his dignity. And wished for his sake he hadn't been facing a ward full of women

    Quote Originally Posted by Double Trouble View Post
    The NHS allows convicted sex criminals to wander around mixed wards abusing old ladies (not to mention the other 300 cases over the last three years) and nobody is at fault?

    Surely it would be sensible to have single sex wards AND some kind of additional clause regarding confidentiality to protect patients from sex offenders.
    Protecting convicted offenders confidentiality under these circumstances, does sound a bit bizarre.
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    Re: Sexual assault in mixed hospital wards

    Quote Originally Posted by Double Trouble View Post
    Ang on a cotton picking minute. The NHS allows convicted sex criminals to wander around mixed wards abusing old ladies (not to mention the other 300 cases over the last three years) and nobody is at fault?

    Surely it would be sensible to have single sex wards AND some kind of additional clause regarding confidentiality to protect patients from sex offenders.
    How would this 'clause' work, exactly?

    My point was that if nobody knew this chap's background, and given that there was a mixed ward, it might just be that there is no single thing or person to blame - except the existence of mixed wards, which is not an issue that can be resolved just on a whim.

    Last time I spoke to a nurse about mixed-sex wards she said she would never work in a hospital where she would have to deal with women-only wards. So it's obviously not a straightforward question.

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    Re: Sexual assault in mixed hospital wards

    Quote Originally Posted by stewart38 View Post
    Single sex wards wont happen

    There was a 15% chance on a labour election pledge cira 1997

    There also not needed and not cost effective regardless of the odd headline

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    Re: Sexual assault in mixed hospital wards

    Quote Originally Posted by Gav View Post
    I don't buy the patient confidentiality excuse either. Surely patient confidentiality means that hospital staff aren't allowed to discuss a patients records with anyone not involved in their care? I fail to see how that would prevent the government from letting hospitals know about sex offenders.


    Patient confidentiality would not be an issue in notifying hospitals of registered sex offenders, etc. However, cost and practicality might well be.

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    Re: Sexual assault in mixed hospital wards

    Quote Originally Posted by Barry Shnikov View Post
    How would this 'clause' work, exactly?
    Oh, hang on...let me consult my Laws 'R' Us book of clauses...


    ...

    Right the book says Clause A - Put perverts in skip at the back of the hospital, with all the other medical waste.

    Clause B Imagine your mum is in a ward with a Nonse and see if you feel any different about spending money on single sex wards.



    Summink along those lines ought to do it.

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    Re: Sexual assault in mixed hospital wards

    Perhaps we all should have to get a CRB/Disclosure check before being admitted to hospital?

    Or perhaps all medical people in the UK should have access to the criminal records of everybody just in case? I'm sure that would be cheap and easy, and wouldn't at all be a privacy nightmare...
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    Re: Sexual assault in mixed hospital wards

    Quote Originally Posted by Barry Shnikov View Post
    Mixed sex wards are usually fine; mixed sex bays are already supposedly phased out.
    I've been in mixed sex bays and they have been fine; the women did not suggest they were unhappy.

    Isn't this more a problem of security, than mixed sex wards? It's the vulnerability of the old lady suffering from dementia being put in the situation that is the real story.

    BTW, where did it say about patient confidentiality, DT? I didn't read that.
    God I agree


    From this

    Quote Originally Posted by Double Trouble View Post
    I had no idea that mixed wards even existed.
    We get this ?

    Quote Originally Posted by Double Trouble View Post

    there are plenty of reasons why mixed sex wards are totally unacceptable, especially for older folk who would be mortified at being seen in their pyjamas, having to share bathroom facilities, etc with members of the opposite sex. It's disgusting.
    You don’t share baths with old ladies or see them undress but you have never been on a mixed sex ward ?.

    Security vulnerability and dignity are more important

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    Re: Sexual assault in mixed hospital wards

    Just to point out: no-one has dealt with my 'common sense' point. (I make them from time to time, just to keep you on your toes.)

    My doctor doesn't know about my criminal record (even though it is confined to traffic offences). If any of you have any criminal convictions, or know anyone who has, ask yourself at what point you would inform your GP. If your GP doesn't know, how is a hospital going to find out? If this hospital did not know about the conviction, how can it be to blame - or anyone else, come to that.

    DT's 300 assaults is not necessarily a helpful statistic. How many of those assaults were carried out by persons with previous convictions? How many were carried out where the hospital knew about any previous convictions? What, if anything, does that figure (and any associated information) mean in the debate we're having here?

    Is there to be a law that people who are ordered to sign the sex offenders register are to inform their doctor? Or that GPs must consult the register before taking on a patient, or that hospitals must do so before accepting them as inpatients? If someone comes into hospital on an emergency basis, when is the check to be made and by whom?

    There were a lot of physical assaults in hospitals last year. Are we to include other, non-sexual convictions in this new provision?

    If we had ID cards, it could all go on there and the GP or the hospital would find out as soon as it was scanned. Not my preferred solution, I have to say.

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    Re: Sexual assault in mixed hospital wards

    Quote Originally Posted by stewart38 View Post
    You don’t share baths with old ladies or see them undress but you have never been on a mixed sex ward ?.
    I'm not sure what your point is here Stewart

    As this is something that has interested me today, I have started a thread about it and looked at loads of literature today about it, because it's something I knew nothing about before and I have read lots of stories that lead me to believe mixed sex wards are not acceptable.
    Last edited by Double Trouble; 18th-February-2008 at 03:51 PM.

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    Re: Sexual assault in mixed hospital wards

    Quote Originally Posted by Double Trouble View Post
    Oh, hang on...let me consult my Laws 'R' Us book of clauses...

    Right the book says Clause A - Put perverts in skip at the back of the hospital, with all the other medical waste.

    Clause B Imagine your mum is in a ward with a Nonse and see if you feel any different about spending money on single sex wards.

    Summink along those lines ought to do it.
    Hmm. So no 'reasoned debate', then, just some knee-jerk Daily Mail ranting? You suggested a clause, I was just asking you to explain how you envisaged that would work.

    The 'imagine it was you' scenario doesn't cut any ice because a) it's not a good way of deciding what policy should be and b) I'd love to have more money spent on the national health but unfortunately people in this country are (as a group) so selfish that all politicians are terrified now at the idea of announcing that taxes are to go up in order that expenditure can be increased.

    I am not one of those people, and would be happy to see taxes raised to spend money on those things.

    But see my earlier post - cost is not the only reason mixed-wards-with-single-sex-bays were introduced.

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    Re: Sexual assault in mixed hospital wards

    Quote Originally Posted by Double Trouble View Post
    I have read lots of stories that lead me to believe mixed sex wards are not acceptable.
    Well, tell us what you have learned and what factors led you to that belief. We might agree with you.

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