It seems to me that the cart is being put before the horse here.
There are already laws in place to cover sexual assault - regardless of where they happen. It is upsetting I am sure if a member of your family is assaulted full stop (be that in a hospital ward or anywhere else). This is more about the duty of care to the more vulnerable members of society. If a person is vulnerable, due to dementia for example, then clearly this *is* something that can be listed in the patient's medical notes without causing a breech of confidentiality.
Bus stops are mixed sex. There are a lot of assaults (sexual and physical) that take place at bus stops, shall we make them segregated too? You cannot track the movements of all previous sex offenders (let alone the ones who are yet to be caught). But you can do more to provide a safer environment for the more vulnerable members of society.
To anyone who thinks that single sex wards will cure assault, may I draw your attention to
Beverley Allitt and
Dr Harold Shipman, both of whom preyed solely on the vulnerable.
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