Letter: Right balance for single-sex wards

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