Cooties - the New Hospital Superbug

[steepholm]

I must admit I'm a bit baffled by this story, which was the lead on the news this morning. I mean, is this really the thing that people are most concerned about with the NHS? I suppose I can see that a lot of people would rather not have mixed-sex wards (I imagine a lot of them would rather have a room to themselves, in an ideal world), but separate toilets and bathrooms? Since when was that a big issue? It's not as if people are asked to stand next to each other in a communal shower, after all.

Am I missing something? The politicians and their interviewers all seem to be taking it for granted that it's a major disgrace this wasn't done years ago, rather than questioning whether it's as burning an issue as hygiene, queues, unavailable drugs, etc.

Either way, mixed-sex wards are due to be phased out by the end of the year. I wonder how long it will be before the papers report on the first person to die after being turned away from hospital despite beds being available, just because they were the wrong sex? My guess is January 2011.

Comments

[sheenaghpugh]

It's partly a problem because of those bloody hospital gowns that gape at the back, and partly because men on geriatric wards have been known to wander about not caring what's on view. I think there have been incidents and even attacks. Maybe it's a thing women mind more than men (after all, look at the amount of exposure men are used to in public loos, which seems unthinkable to women). It would certainly have put me off going into hospital, though I don't like the places anyway.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I think it bothers some more than others, so I'd be happy if there were an option (and might say "Whatever's free" for myself). But I remember last time this one was doing the rounds we knew an elderly couple who were dying in separate hospitals, never mind wards. No doubt there was a practical medical reason for this, in the nature of their illnesses, but their daughter was having to drive from Barrow to Kendal to visit them, and my brother kept saying "Wouldn't it be better for everyone, particularly the couple, if they could be put in adjacent beds?"

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Labour kept promising to segregate wards, then remembering it had more important things to do.

I guess it's the sort of issue that plays well with the Daily Mail.

[gillo]

A lot of elderly ladies really hate men seeing them unwell and feel threatened by men in nightwear wandering around. They feel remarkably embarrassed by having to share bathrooms etc with men. As older women seem to dominate a lot of hospital wards, I suppose it is a big issue for them at least. I can understand their discomfort, though I agree that c-diff, MRSA and teh like are rather more important.

A decade ago hospitals had gone a bit too far with the unisex wards, IMO - but it's hardly a really big problem any more - which is why it's a cheap stunt to announce the end of it. Not that there'll be any money to convert remaining old hospital wards, of course.

My Green Wing icon is more or less mandatory here, I think.

[emmaco.livejournal.com]

I wondered about it this morning, and decided I didn't want to be in a hospital ward or sharing a bathroom with sick people at all, regardless of gender. But I remember when I was in Carlisle hospital (my only overnight hospital stay occurred when I was backpacking when I was 20) and the women in my ward were all having a ball. They were gossiping, and saying how it was like a holiday not having to cook etc, so maybe they would have gender preferences as it was more like a holiday home than a hospital.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

It's also what people might overhear - I know it sounds nuts, but vomiting on the other side of a door from the opposite sex is really grim, whereas you know other women (or men) are going to understand. I'd rather be in an all-female ward, simply because it means a whole lot of stuff you don't have to worry about.

I do however agree with the person who made the point about elderly couples dying in separate hospitals. Flexibility and compassion have to be key if at all possible.

[gair.livejournal.com]

But will there be separate wards for butches and femmes? Or will I have to share bathrooms with femmes? They will constantly be in there doing their hair!

/sarcastic