Hospital help

WESTON General Hospital has been singled out by the Government for special treatment following concerns over mixed sex wards. Weston Area Health Trust, which runs the hospital, is one of 28 NHS trusts across the country identified by Whitehall health bosses as needing more help in efforts to treat patients in single-sex wards.Last year the Government claimed that only one per cent of patients were seen in mixed wards. However, ministers at the Department of Health launched an inquiry following testimony from patients and results from a survey by the health watchdog, the Healthcare Commission, which claimed otherwise. The Grange Road hospital has written to patients in mixed-sex accommodation to explain why the situation has occurred.The hospital's chief executive, Lorene Read, said: "We work hard to ensure privacy and dignity for our patients and strive to maintain this."The trust audits its single-sex accommodation every month and reports to the executive board."A trust spokesman added: "This hospital receives most of its patients as emergencies and, while they are being assessed prior to full admission, they are accommodated in our 12-bed emergency admission unit which offers mixed-sex accommodation.