20/12/11
Madeleine Brindley 's article today worryingly suggests that UHB may not now go ahead with single sex ward provision when the new elderly mental health unit opens at Llandough in September.She reports that relatives and carers of those effected are currently being consulted by UHB.
However CHC has said it is, "unhappy with any plans to create a single- sex ward."
Why one wonders should this be so ? Surely women suffering with all the indignities of dementia should at least be given their privacy in such a time of dire illness as well as their carers with some peace of mind that their loved one will be in a safe and dignified environment.
Would - one wonders - women being treated for breast cancer be treated with such disdain ?
I myself as a woman patient have experienced the indignity of having to walk through - on a mixed mental health ward - curtained beds of men who lay there smoking in their underpants to get to my own bed: Whitchurch Hospital- October 2006.
I myself was assured by the Director at Public Consultation December 2010 that this would never be the case again and that it would be remedied.
UHB it would seem is rather adept at 'u turns' even after having made a public commitment to single sex wards being a priority and an essential component in the way in which people suffering mental illness in 21st century should have the right to expect even living - as we do - in Wales.
Let us hope sincerely that 'The Time to Change ' campaign finally to begin in Wales 2012 will address such issues with some alacrity.
G K Brightmore
this is an institutional abuse, built into the very fabric of hospital operational processes...yet another element to add to the cascade of concerns revealed during 2011 and before...very definately, time for change...
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