Mary O'Rourke
Ceist:92 Mrs. O'Rourke asked the Minister for Health if he will review hospital patient care in order to ensure that the practice of mixed wards does not prevail. [5478/96]
Written Answers. - Mixed Gender Hospital Wards.
Limerick East): I recently reviewed the situation in relation to mixed gender wards in acute hospitals. Each health board and acute voluntary hospital in the country was contacted in order to determine the extent of the problem.
The position is that gender mixing occurs in high dependency units such as intensive care, coronary care and accident and emergency departments. It also occurs in small geriatric assessment units.
Outside of these areas gender mixing may occur as a result of emergency medical need where no alternative accommodation can be found at the time of admission. It is not possible to re-organise the accommodation arrangements for male and female patients on a day to day basis to correspond with the varied demand for male and female beds. Some flexibility is required occasionally as the alternative would be to accommodate people on trolleys in the accident and emergency department. In such circumstances patients are usually only mixed for short periods until alternative accommodation can be found. On such occasions I have been assured that patients are screened off by the use of curtains etc. to ensure that a degree of privacy can be maintained.
I have asked my Department to write to the health boards and voluntary hospitals to remind them that where gender mixing must occur in emergency cases outside of the high dependency units etc., every effort must be made to confine this arrangement to the shortest time possible and to ensure that at all times the dignity and privacy of patients are maintained. The Department will continue to monitor this situation and will ensure that whatever steps are necessary will be taken to bring to the irreducible minimum the extent to which gender mixing occurs in the care and treatment of patients.