Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) is pleased to confirm that we are compliant with the Government’s requirement to eliminate mixed-sex accommodation. We have the necessary facilities, resources and culture to ensure that patients who are admitted to our hospitals will either have their own bedroom or only share the room where they sleep with members of the same sex, and same-sex toilets and bathrooms are close to their bed area.
If our care should fall short of the required standard, we will report it and act on it. CPFT monitors privacy and dignity through incident reports, through PALS and complaints and through patient experience visits and feedback. We will undertake an annual audit to ensure compliance with this standard, and we will publish the results of this audit on our website

Our commitment to privacy and dignity

Every patient has the right to receive high-quality care that is safe, effective and respects their privacy and dignity. CPFT is committed to providing every patient with same-sex accommodation, because it helps to safeguard their privacy and dignity when they are often at their most vulnerable.

We are proud to confirm that mixed-sex accommodation has been eliminated in our organisation. Patients who are admitted to any of our wards will either have a single room or share the room where they sleep only with members of the same sex, and same-sex toilets and bathrooms will be close to their bed area. Under no circumstances will patients share bedrooms or dormitories with members of the opposite sex.

CPFT also ensures that all staff are supported and trained in delivering same-sex accommodation and in supporting privacy and dignity for all of our patients. CPFT has developed and implemented a policy on privacy and dignity. Privacy and dignity is a priority for CPFT. Over recent years, CPFT has modernised and developed its services across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Key areas of improvement include:

• Provision of the new Cavell Centre in Peterborough (PFI) with all wards having single en-suite room accommodation. The Cavell Centre has Oak Ward 1 and 2, the two adult acute wards that are entirely single sex, and Poplar, the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit, that is a male-only unit.
• Reprovision of The Cedars on our Fulbourn site to provide single rooms with en-suite facilities
• Improved privacy and dignity arrangements for Acer Ward (on the Hinchingbrooke site) through environmental improvements.

What does this mean for our patients?

Same-sex accommodation means that patients admitted to CPFT can expect to find the following:

• The room where your bed is will either be a single room or, if shared, have only patients of the same sex as you
• Your toilet and bathroom will be just for your gender, and will be close to your bed area

It is possible that there will be both men and women patients on the ward, but they will not share your sleeping area. You may have to cross a ward corridor to reach your bathroom, but you will not have to walk through opposite-sex areas.

You may share some communal living spaces, such as day rooms or dining rooms, and it is very likely that you will see both men and women patients as you move around the building. Unless accompanied by nursing staff, visitors are expected to make use of communal day areas, lounges or other visiting facilities rather than patient bedrooms.

If you need additional help to use the toilet or take a bath then you may be supported to use an adapted bathroom that is used by both men and women, but a member of staff will be with you, and other patients will not be in the bathroom at the same time. 

What are our plans for the future?

We will continue to improve our care environments and to learn from patient and carer feedback as to how we can strengthen privacy, dignity and patient safety. In particular, we have plans for 2011-12 to:

• Make alterations to our older people’s mental health ward, James Ward, at Addenbrooke's Hospital, to strengthen privacy and dignity arrangements
• Further strengthen patient experience reporting both through clinical area visits and through direct patient and carer feedback

How will we measure how we are doing?

CPFT undertakes the national annual patient survey for the Care Quality Commission and uses the results of this to inform our service development work. In addition, we undertake our own surveys that include specific questions on same-sex accommodation and privacy and dignity issues, and have developed a patient experience system so that patients and carers can give us feedback about privacy and dignity issues and other care issues. This feedback system is available directly to patients pre- or post-discharge, and also available through our website. We also make use of feedback through our PALs and complaints service to improve patient experience. Reports on all patient experience feedback and developments are made to our Quality and Healthcare Governance Committee and to the Board, and made available to our commissioners.

Privacy and dignity concerns - PALS

We want to know about your experiences. Please contact CPFT's Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) if you have any comments or concerns. The contact number is:

Freephone 0800 376 0775
T 01223 726774 (during office hours)

A confidential e-mail service is also available at:
pals@cpft.nhs.uk

Your comments or views can also be given through www.patientopinion.org.uk

CPFT out-of-hours contact number
0844 931 2120

NHS Direct - talk to NHS Direct on 0845 46 47
Textphone users can call 0845 606 4647
NHS Direct provides a 24-hour health advice and information service

For more information on all of our services, click here

Safeguarding children declaration

The NHS has a key part to play in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. Individual children, especially some of the most vulnerable children and those at greatest risk of social exclusion, will need co-ordinated help from a range of organisations including health, education, children’s social care and the voluntary sector.

Section 11 of the Children Act 2004 places a duty on every NHS Trust to have arrangements in place to ensure that the organisation and all staff working within it have regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. CPFT regularly reviews its arrangements against these requirements and is compliant with them.

Safer employment

CPFT has a clear process for ensuring that anyone working with children has had a CRB check before they start work.

Recruitment and selection training is mandatory for all appointing officers and Trust policy requires that references are checked before an offer of employment is made. 

CPFT has a nominated HR lead for dealing with allegations relating to children who works closely with the Local Area Designated Officer (LADO) if concerns arise.

Policies and procedures

Staff practice with regard to safeguarding children is guided by CPFT's safeguarding children policy. This policy has been written in accordance with the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Local safeguarding Children Board’s (LSCBs) ‘Core Inter-agency Safeguarding Procedures’ and ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010’. 

CPFT has a system for flagging safeguarding children concerns and ensuring that missed out-patient appointments are followed up. Staff are given additional information and support to contribute to the child protection process when it is known they are working with a member of the family.

A range of information resources are made available to staff to assist in their safeguarding responsibilities, including web resources, newsletters, briefings and a Trust hand book. See below.

Safeguarding children training

Staff should have an understanding of both their role and responsibilities, and those of other professionals and organisations. This is essential for effective multi-agency and inter-agency working. Safeguarding children training is mandatory for all staff, regardless of role and CPFT has a robust system in place for monitoring and ensuring compliance.

Safeguarding children team

CPFT employs a named nurse and a named doctor for safeguarding children. It also has a specialist nurse for safeguarding children. These people are responsible for leading safeguarding children within CPFT and providing the organisation and staff with support and advice.

CPFT's representation at board level is provided by Tim Bryson, Director of Nursing and Quality, who is CPFT's ‘children’s champion’ in accordance with the Children’s Act 2004.

CPFT also has a safeguarding children link worker scheme which provides a network of advice and support and aids the flow of information to clinicians. Each team has a link worker who receives extra training for their role.

Governance

The Board approves CPFT's Safeguarding Children Action Plan which includes details of what CPFT is doing to develop and improve its safeguarding arrangements. As part of this plan the Safeguarding Children Team conducts regular audits to ensure that the safeguarding arrangements in place are working. 

CPFT is also required to undertake an annual audit of its safeguarding arrangements against the requirements of Sec 11 of the Children Act 2004. These are submitted to the LSCBs in Peterborough and Cambridgeshire who also monitor any actions arising from them.

If you would like to know more about safeguarding children or have any questions please contact: 

Ben Brown
Safeguarding Children Co-ordinator
T 01223 726770
M 07887 687496
F 01480 398501

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, Elizabeth House, Fulbourn Hospital, Fulbourn, Cambridge CB21 5EF