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FIGHT ... Anneliese Fellingham is calling for an end to mixed sex wards after she was admitted to Rochdale Infirmary
FIGHT ... Anneliese Fellingham is calling for an end to mixed sex wards after she was admitted to Rochdale Infirmary
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OAP fight for ward dignity

Alice McKeegan
12/ 7/2008

A PENSIONER has taken her campaign to end ‘undignified’ mixed sex wards to the top by meeting one of the region’s health bosses.

Anneliese Fellingham, 78, secretary of Littleborough Pensioners’ Association, met John Saxby, the chief executive of Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, to discuss her experiences of the controversial wards.

But Mrs Fellingham looks to have lost her battle having been told that hospital is operating with government guidelines.

Mrs Fellingham decided to launch her fight after being admitted to a mixed sex ward at Rochdale Infirmary when she fell ill in December.

She made a formal complaint to the Trust after being confronted at 6am by a naked male patient who was touching her hair.

She was so terrified by the experience that she asked to be sent home.

No transport was immediately available so she left hospital in a taxi, still wearing her nightclothes.

Now, Mrs Fellingham, of Clough Road, Littleborough, is lobbying health bosses

to scrap mixed sex wards at the Infirmary in the interests of ‘safety, dignity and privacy’.

Despite a positive meeting with Mr Saxby, she was told that the Trust had no current plans to change the system.

She said: "I was very upset by the experience. My alarm wasn’t working so I couldn’t even call for help.

"I didn’t want to stay there and I’m now campaigning on behalf of elderly females because it can be very distressing.

"What really annoyed me is that I wasn’t offered an alternative.

"Mr Saxby was understanding but said that there was nothing he could do about it.

"You go into hospital to get better, not to come out shaking and frightened."


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Most recent 2 of 2 user comments

   I agree, we should not have mixed wards EVER!!!!! As ever they are cutting down and the patients are suffering again!!!!
Joyce Barrett
13/07/2008 at 22:13
   She should take this to the House of Lords or even Europe if necessary. Why don't the Ob open a subcription list for her legal costs? What and indignity for someone coming to the end of her life.
Henry Kelly Expat (Ireland), Irealnd
12/07/2008 at 13:07
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