Conditions for women in in-patient psychiatric units: the Mental Health Act Commission 1996 national visit.

All NHS services are expected to make in-patient wards single-sex. However, as LESLEY WARNER and RICHARD FORD report, women in psychiatric hospitals still have to share sleeping accommodation with men, and still experience sexual harassment, violence, threat and abuse. Some units are unable even to guarantee 24-hour access to a female member of staff.