Patient Privacy and Dignity

Our commitment to single sex wards

We work hard to treat all our patients with privacy and dignity and many patients are already cared for in single sex areas.  We recognise that we still have more to do, and we are committed to ensuring that all patients, wherever possible, are treated in single sex areas and have toilet and bathroom facilities which are only for use by other people of their sex. 

Privacy and dignity for patients is one of five national patient experience priorities for the NHS.  NHS London has issued guidelines to all NHS Trusts in the capital, stating that “There are no exemptions from the need to provide high standards of privacy and dignity to protect patients from unwanted exposure, including casual overlooking and overhearing. This applies to all areas, including emergency admissions, intensive care and high dependency, day treatment areas and children’s wards.” All Trusts are required to implement these guidelines by March 2010. 

At King’s, we are currently auditing every department in the hospital, including our critical care units, Emergency Department and Day Surgery Unit, to identify areas where we are still not providing acceptable standards of privacy and dignity for patients.  Our action plan outlines the work we need to do to make improvements in these areas and when we will do it by. 

We welcome feedback from patients, their families, carers and friends. If you have any comments or suggestions about mixed sex wards at King’s, please contact our Patient Advice and Liaison team by email or on 020 3299 3601.