PATIENTS are less likely to have to share their ward with people of the other sex at Oxfordshire's largest hospitals, according to a new review.

The Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust has reduced the number of areas shared by male and female patients by 28 per cent, but managers admit they have further work to do.

The news was given a cautious welcome by patient watchdogs, who have fought for enhancements in privacy and dignity within the trust.

The Department of Health wanted 95 per cent of hospitals to eliminate mixed gender accommodation by 2002.

But in 2004, the ORH admitted to the Oxford Mail that patients were still being placed with the opposite sex in all of its 99 wards.

Now an internal review has shown there are 36 potentially mixed sex wards at the trust's John Radcliffe and Churchill Hospitals in Oxford and the Horton, Banbury - a 28 per cent reduction since 2004, when there were 50.

In a report to the ORH trust board, associate chief nurse Fiona Wilcox emphasised that single sex accommodation had to be balanced against patients' clinical needs and bed availability.

She said: "The review shows improvement on previous years, although there is further to go towards complete compliance all of the time.

"Where clinical need for care overrides the ability to meet the single gender standards, patients are routinely advised that they may be in shared accommodation."

Chief nurse Elaine Strachan-Hall told the Oxford Mail that many wards at the former Radcliffe Infirmary had poor layouts, but these services had been relocated to new buildings, like the JR West Wing.

She said: "We have really good accommodation, and have made leaps and bounds particularly through investment in our estates.

"Some people are treated in mixed sex accommodation, but when that happens we try to limit the time they spend there."

The improvements were applauded by the ORH Patient and Public Involvement Forum.

Chairman Jacquie Pearce-Gervis said: "We asked the trust for these figures in 2006, but were ignored.

"So it's great they've actually gone and done this review."

Have you had experience of a mixed sex ward in Oxford hospitals? If so, please call our newsdesk on 01865 425445.