Declaration of compliance – elimination of mixed-sex accommodation

Posted on 30th March, 2011

Devon Partnership NHS Trust is pleased to confirm that it is compliant with the Government’s requirement to eliminate mixed-sex accommodation, except when it is in the patient’s overall best interest, or reflects their personal choice. We have the necessary facilities, resources and culture to ensure that patients who are admitted to our hospitals will only share the room where they sleep with members of the same sex, and same-sex toilets and bathrooms will be close to their bed area. Sharing with members of the opposite sex will only happen when clinically necessary such as where people need the highest level of one to one nursing support and observation for short periods of time (for example in a high dependency or ‘extra care’ area in an acute inpatient ward). If our care should fall short of the required standard, we will report it. We will also set up an audit mechanism to make sure that we do not misclassify any of our reports. We will publish the results of that audit as part of our ‘quality of care and patient experience’ report in September 2011.