Trust sees room for improvement

5:41pm Wednesday 14th May 2008

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MORE patients are being put into single-sex wards by a local health trust, a survey has shown.

Hillingdon Hospital NHS Trust has improved on the number of patients not having to share accommodation with members of the opposite sex since last year, a Healthcare Commission report has shown.

Just 16 per cent of patients said they were put into a mixed-sex area when first admitted to the hospital, and nine per cent said they shared a sleeping area with the opposite sex when put on a ward.

The survey shows the trust, which runs Hillingdon and Mount Vernon hospitals, has improved in this area, in line with the government's desire for single sex wards.

Adewale Kadiri, central London area manager for the commission, said the trust should be proud of the improvements they have made in this area.

He said: "Providing single-sex accommodation is not some thing that has improved across the board, so it is good Hillingdon has made progress."

A totel of 416 patients responded to the survey, carried out last August, which covered a large selection of aspects of patient care.

The trust came in the worst 20 per cent of healthcare providers in the country for giving patients information about their condition and treatments, and was also in the bottom 20 per cent for explaining what was going to happen during an operation.

Almost a third of patients said nurses talked in front of them as if they were not there.

Mr Kadiri said the trust also need to take urgent steps to improve cleanliness in the hospitals.

He said: "These are serious problems, and they need to be addressed immediately.

"The trust has performed fairly in this report. It is not the worst but it is closer to poor than it should be and there is room for improvement."