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Inpatients - no privacy in toilet and showers

Posted By LaG

"Inpatients - no privacy in toilet and showers"

About: Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust / Inpatient mental health care

(as the patient),

I was sectioned at Highgate Mental Health Centre.

I was put on a ward with lots male staff. I ( like 40% female pts) have a sexual abuse history so male staff being near makes my mental health very bad.

This trust says it is expert in what women need.I don't think it is, if it was what I write wouldn't have happened.

There are NO doors on the bathrooms in the room.

And NO privacy curtains.

So no privacy at all. 

As a rape victim male staff and workmen came in unannounced when I was in the bathroom.

They just knock and walk in, it feels like the staff don't care about this being a problem.

In my opinion doing this is misogynistic, harms women and make them more vulnerable.

They will say it is to stop suicide.

What about keeping women safe in other ways?

Instead of providing safe kind non threatening care they rob women of basic safety like that stops suicide.

In my view it increase the risk, including after admission because of trauma added.

It is not hard to put in a curtain with collapsing rail for safety like is on windows. 

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Responses

Response from Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust 3 years ago
Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 18/11/2021 at 10:18
Published on Care Opinion at 12:09

Thank you for raising this concern, we would very much like to have the opportunity to address this with you in person and hear about the issues you have been experiencing. If you would like to do this please contact the Matron for your ward or raise a complaint via the Trust’s Advice and Complaints department feedback@candi.nhs.uk

Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust are committed to improving the experiences of women in our services and we understand the difficulty that the lack of en-suite doors has brought to our service users. The decision to remove them was taken based on a patient safety risk and we are sorry there has been a delay in procuring new doors. These will be in place in December and in the meantime, staff and visitors to wards have been reminded to knock and give time before entering private bedroom areas.

Update posted by LaG (the patient)

Written with Support.

You claim to be a mental health Trust with expertise on women, you have a women's lead and claim to have a women's resource centre.

You have an entire safeguarding team with a lead manager.

And yet this was approved before any replacement door or even temporary fix put in place.

To me it seems very obvious that The Trust didn't consider the serious safeguarding concerns, or bathroom and toilet doors wouldn't have been removed without a suitable replacement in the first place.

Under these circumstances I don't feel that I want to speak directly with any manager on something so obviously damaging to vulnerable women.

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