Eliminating Mixed Sex Accommodation (EMSA)
‘Same sex accommodation: your privacy, our responsibility’ was an initiative launched by the Department of Health in January 2009 to provide clearer guidance and support for hospitals. Its aim was to eliminate the use of mixed-sex accommodation in hospitals, for all patients, at every stage in their journey through care.
We are pleased to confirm that we continue to be compliant with the Government’s requirement to eliminate mixed-sex accommodation, except when it is in the service user’s overall best interest, or reflects their personal choice.
We have the necessary facilities, resources and culture to ensure that service users who are admitted to our inpatient services 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.
If our care should fall short of the required standard, we will report it.
We have an audit mechanism to make sure that we do not misclassify any of our reports and will publish the results.