According to new figures, almost half of NHS trusts are still putting patients in mixed-sex accommodation. Though the from begin of April on £250 fine per patient (per day) for breaking rules on mixed-sex sleeping on wards, data for last month showed that from 287 providers of care, still thousands of breaches were there every month. The numbers of March revealed 5,446 breaches of mixed-sex rules across England: of 146 NHS trusts, 48 per cent had sleeping breaches.

The fines were introduced last year by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, who defined as “unacceptable” the fact trusts could be breaching the rules.

Previous data on mixed-sex accommodation had been covered by the Labour, accused the Government. One action was ordered to stop it, though the pledge drop to build 45,000 new single rooms for patients in hospitals.

A recent report by the independent King’s Fund think-tank this week showed that waiting times for hospitalization were at their highest level for three years, achieving more than 18 weeks in February, in about 15 per cent of the hospitals.

According to Shadow Health Secretary John Healey, progress made under Labour’s privacy and dignity fund to reduce use of mixed-sex accommodation was maintained but David Cameron should stop his wasteful reorganisation of the NHS and reinstate Labour’s guarantees.