Mezey et al (Reference Mezey, Hassell and Bartlett2005) discuss staff and patient perceptions of the safety of women in mixed-sex and single-sex medium secure units. In their conclusion, the authors ask ‘how much choice women should be allowed to exert over the type of setting [single-sex or mixed-sex wards] where they receive treatment’. On the basis of our own survey we can provide tentative answers to the related question of whether they want a choice, and, if so, what they would choose.

As part of a much larger study (in preparation), we conducted a survey of 50 in-patients (31 women) who were admitted to four mixed-sex acute psychiatric wards. We explored their ward milieu preferences: single-sex v. mixed-sex wards. The mean age of the sample was 39.5 years (s.d.=13.49) and the common diagnostic categories were schizophrenia (45%) and affective disorders (20%). Although 24 patients (48%) stated that they would like a choice in the type of ward they were admitted to, only 16 (32%) preferred single-sex wards to mixed-sex wards. A gender-wise analysis further showed that of the 16 who preferred single-sex wards, only 4 (25%) were women. The remainder of the female sample (27 out of 31) preferred mixed-sex wards. Of course, the reasons given for this choice were varied and complex.

Hence, our findings do not support the widely held belief that women often prefer single-sex wards. In view of the small sample size of our study, more work needs to be done on this subject before definitive conclusions are drawn.