2012/13 Declaration of Compliance
Worcestershire Health & Care NHS Trust is committed to ensuring that all patients receiving our services receive high quality care and have their privacy and dignity respected at all times. Provision of same sex accommodation helps safeguard privacy and dignity for patients at a time when they are often at their most vulnerable.
Worcestershire Health & Care NHS Trust is pleased to confirm that we are compliant with the Government's requirement to eliminate mixed-sex accommodation, except when it is in the patient's overall best interest, is clinically justifiable and reflects their personal choice.
We have the necessary facilities, resources and culture to ensure that patients who are admitted to our hospitals and in-patients units will only share the room where they sleep with members of the same sex, and that same-sex toilets and bathrooms will be close to their bed area. Sharing with members of the opposite sex may happen very rarely if clinically necessary (such as patients needing specialist equipment e.g. in day-case units, or when patients actively choose to share, for instance in circumstances where partners wish to share a 2 bedded room).
What we have done this year
The Trust has an ongoing maintenance programme in place which aims to promote privacy & dignity and continuously improve the environment in which we care for our patients. Specifically, we are pleased to confirm that we have;
Our future plans
We have agreed a programme of work to further enhance the privacy and dignity for patients in some other Trust premises which we will be carrying out this year.
How we will measure and monitor success
We will continue to monitor patient satisfaction in respect of privacy and dignity through our regular Patient Environment Action Team (PEAT) inspections and our patient surveys. We also welcome comments from patients and relatives which can be made directly to our Hospital Matrons and in-patient managers. We also have in place a system to closely monitor on a monthly basis the continued compliance with same sex accommodation.
If our care should fall short of the required standard, we will report it. We will also set up an audit mechanism to make sure that we do not misclassify any of our reports. We will publish the results of that audit on our internet.
What to do if you have any concerns or questions
If you think you are in mixed sex accommodation or if you have any concerns or comments to make, please contact our Patients Relations Team:
Patient Relations Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust Isaac Maddox House Shrub Hill Road Worcester WR4 9RW
Tel: 01905 681517 Fax: 01905 681643
Email: PALS@hacw.nhs.uk