A Southampton hospital has been fined more than £3,000 for breaching single-sex ward rules in November.

Last month Southampton General Hospital treated patients in mixed sex accommodation 15 times, racking up fines worth £3,750.

All other hospital’s in Southampton and Hampshire were able to keep a clean slate, avoiding any penalties.

In April the Government introduced £250 fines for every time a hospital broke single-sex ward regulations without any justification.

Judy Gillow, director of nursing at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Southampton General, said: “ The privacy and dignity of our patients is extremely important to us and that is why we strive to minimise breaches but, as a large acute hospital trust, we regularly treat some of the region’s most critically ill patients and that does mean there will be occasions when urgent medical need means we have to make short-term alternative arrangements to ensure patient safety.”