Almost 2,000 patients were forced to endure the indignity of mixed-sex wards last month, official figures reveal.
The number is at its highest level since 2010, when the Government imposed a crackdown on the practice.
A total of 1,908 patients were placed in mixed-sex wards in January, almost twice as many as the same time last year.
Last month hospitals were temporarily allowed to put patients on the wards to help ease winter overcrowding.
A total of 1,908 patients were placed in mixed-sex wards in January, almost twice as many as the same time last year
Many of the wards have shared bathrooms and toilets which many patients find extremely humiliating. Labour accused ministers of leaving patients ’embarrassed and denigrated’ and called for urgent action to reverse the trend.
The Government promised to end the so-called wards of shame in 2010 following a long-running Daily Mail campaign.
They introduced £250 fines for hospitals for every mixed-sex ‘breach’ and initially the figures started to fall.
But they have been climbing steadily since 2015 as overcrowded hospitals are increasingly forced to put patients wherever there is space.
In January, an emergency panel convened by NHS England agreed to temporarily lift the mixed-sex ward fines.
The latest figures are the highest since June 2011 and almost double the 1,036 reported for January 2017.
A breach counts as any occasion when a patient is placed on a ward with the opposite sex, not including intensive care, high dependency units or A&E.
Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s health spokesman, said: ‘These record mixed-sex ward breaches are a severe indicator of patient care worsening under the Tories’
The figures were released by NHS England alongside weekly performance statistics on how the NHS is coping this winter.
Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s health spokesman, said: ‘These record mixed-sex ward breaches are a severe indicator of patient care worsening under the Tories.
‘Jeremy Hunt must now urgently explain what the Government is doing to minimise these humiliating breaches following NHS England’s unprecedented decision to lift the ban in January. Mixed-sex ward breaches leave patients embarrassed and denigrated, and Labour will end this improper practice once and for all.’
Phillippa Hentsch, head of analysis at NHS Providers, which represents hospital trusts said: ‘In January, the number of patients in mixed-sex wards reached its highest level since June 2011.
‘This is not a position trusts want to be in, but the level of demand means trusts have to make patient safety a priority, which may at times compromise patient experience. Despite this, NHS staff continue to deliver high-quality care to more patients than ever.’
Ministers first promised to end the scandal of mixed-sex wards in 1994 when Tory Health Secretary Virginia Bottomley pledged a crackdown.
The Labour government repeated the pledge in 1999 but by 2008, had admitted it would be unachievable
In 2010 the Coalition government announced new fines and this initially led to a 90 per cent drop in breaches. But this has lasted just a few years.
The figures also show that an average of 817 beds were closed due to the winter vomiting bug norovirus in the week up to February 11. This was up by 28 per cent compared to the previous week.
Despite problems with the bug, NHS England said hospitals were coping better than usual as they had freed up 2,000 spaces by tackling bedblocking, where beds are occupied by someone who doesn’t strictly need one.