Letter: Right balance for single-sex wards

Monday 03 February 1997 00:02 GMT

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Right balance for single-sex wards

Sir: As Stephen Dorrell points out, single-sex wards would indeed protect the privacy and dignity of patients ("Mixed-sex wards axed by Dorrell", 28 January), but could the policy - with no margin for flexibility for ward managers - not cause a further rise in waiting times for acute beds?

A male patient with an acute medical or surgical complaint, having to wait for a male bed to become available on a partitioned ward with only a female bed available, could be put at risk.

JAMES TEMLETT

Hull

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