A WOMAN who was forced to sleep in a ward with men following major surgery at Royal Preston Hospital is calling for the hospital to scrap mixed sex wards.

Moira Smith, of Lostock Hall, was horrified at having to spend five days in Ward 19 following surgery last month.

While she was satisfied with the medical care the mother-of-three says she was humiliated at having to share the ward with men and has written to the hospital's chief executive and Nigel Evans MP, who represents the Fulwood area where the hospital is based.

Mrs Smith, 53, said: "I was in a bay opposite the separate men and women's toilet facilities. At one point I could see a man using the toilet with his trousers down.

"It was not very nice at all and once I opened my eyes to find a man standing next to my bed.

"There were one or two aggressive men on the ward and the buzzer was not working properly so I couldn't call anyone. It was very worrying and as I was waiting for a painful injection at the time it was the last thing I needed.

"One patient was a Muslim man who was embarrassed to see women walking around in their nightwear. It was humiliating and a loss of dignity."

One elderly patient slept with her walking stick at the side of her bed every night because she was so scared.

Tony Curtis, chief executive of the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "Under the Government's definition, the Trust has no mixed sex wards, although in areas such as coronary care and the Intensive Care Unit, men and women are nursed together.

"Wards are segregated into male and female accommodation, with separate toilet and bathroom facilities. There are occasions where there is not an equal distribution of patients of each sex. This can result in men and women nursed in adjacent bays.

"If problems do arise, where patients feel their privacy is compromised, we'd expect ward staff to respond.

Conservative MP Nigel Evans, representative for Ribble Valley and Fulwood, said: "I feel it's with the utmost urgency these wards are removed. It's a stressful time for patients and mixed wards just add to that."