MEN and women patients slept in wards together after Warrington and Halton hospitals breached mixed sex accommodation guidance.

Government rules strive for single sex sleeping arrangements except when it is ‘in the best interest’ of the patient to mix.

This includes when patients need specialist equipment such as in the intensive care, coronary care or stroke units or when they choose to share.

The breaches at the trust happened when patients in these specialised units were deemed fit to leave by their doctor but could not be moved back to a general ward due to the pressure of finding them a bed.

In December there were 100 occurences of unjustified mixing followed by 59 in January, 18 in February and 45 in March.

In the north west in March there were 923 breaches, 740 of which were at East Cheshire NHS Trust.

Of the region’s 50 care providers listed, Warrington and Halton scored the fourth highest for breaking guideline stipulations that month.

In December Warrington and Halton’s ranking was fifth highest of the 50, in January it was third and in February it was fourth.

Nationally there were 5,446 breaches in March 2011, compared to 7,583 in February 2011.

NHS trusts must recognise, report and eliminate breaches of the policy to the department. As well as monitoring all unjustified breaches, the NHS is also required to monitor all justified mixing.

A spokesman for the hospitals stressed there had been no breaches on general wards and said: “The breaches have been for the ICU, coronary care unit and stroke beds.

“There are patients in any trust for whom the need for swift, skilled care with high levels of observation override the need for gender separation.

“While patients are receiving this care, breaches of same sex accommodation are considered clinically justified.

“The breaches have occurred when a patient in one of these areas has been deemed to be clinically fit to be transferred to one of the wards.

“We try to move the patient as soon as possible, but sometimes there can be a delay while we wait for a bed to become available on a ward.”