Two-thirds of hospitals failing to meet Government pledge to end mixed-sex wards

Millions of patients are suffering the humiliation of having to walk through or past bays occupied by the opposite sex just to get to the toilet or bathroom.

It was 11 years ago that Labour first promised to end mixed-sex wards. But this year ministers abandoned the commitment, saying it was simply unachievable.

The DoH guidance suggests that patients should be placed in bays with three solid walls and only one side screened off by a partition

They claimed that instead they were within 'touching distance' of separating all male and female patients using partitioned bays within wards. But most hospitals are failing to meet even this downgraded measure of acceptable single-sex accommodation, according to statistics released to the Conservatives under freedom of information laws.

Sixty-four per cent of trusts said patients still had to walk through or past bays occupied by the opposite sex to go to the toilet or wash.

The Department of Health's own guidance says: 'Patients should not need to pass through opposite sex accommodation or toilet and washing facilities to access their own.'

The guidance suggests that patients should be placed in bays with three solid walls and only one side screened off by a partition.

But one in seven trusts admitted failing to do this. Fifteen said they were using a variety of materials not considered adequate for the segregation of bays.

These include curtains, screens and partitions that are not ceiling height. One in 25 trusts admitted that even their segregated bays were not always single sex. Of the 171 acute hospital trusts in England, 120 responded to requests for information.

Overall, 67 per cent admitted they were not complying with guidance on single sex accommodation on at least one indicator. Only 33 per cent could show that they met minimum standards on bays and access to toilets and washrooms.

Tory health spokesman Andrew Lansley said: 'It doesn't matter how Labour try to twist the definition of mixed-sex wards in hospitals, they've managed to fail on every count. 'Their endless promises to eliminate mixed-sex accommodation have never been fulfilled and patients have been badly let down.

'Health Secretary Alan Johnson said last week that no one should be put in accommodation where they have to mix with the opposite sex. We've had 11 years of this Government – it's not good enough that thousands of patients every day have to do just that.'

For more than a decade, Labour has promised to end the scandal of male and female patients having to share facilities in NHS hospitals.

A year before he became prime minister, Tony Blair said it was 'not beyond the wit of Government andhealth administrators' to close them.

The pledge was repeated in Labour's 1997 and 2001 election manifestos. The Daily Mail has led a campaign, backed by patients' groups, arguing that mixed-sex wards are undignified and put women at risk from male patients.

But in January health minister Lord Darzi said that having single-sex wards was an 'aspiration that cannot be met'.

He said the Government was committed to single-sex 'accommodation' in hospitals but not single-sex wards – meaning men and women could be separated in the same ward by little more than a curtain.

Mr Johnson claimed last month that the Government was within 'touching distance' of abolishing mixed-sex accommodation.

Last night health minister Ann Keen said: 'Nine out of ten people admitted to hospital for planned operations stay in single-sex accommodation, the 2007 inpatient survey has shown.

'However, I know there is wide variation in patient experiences across the NHS. This is completely unacceptable. We expect to see improvements in next year's inpatient survey.'