Establishing female-only areas in psychiatry wards to improve safety and quality of care for women.

Objective: Our aim was to assess the impact of creating a female-only area within a mixed-gender inpatient psychiatry service, on female patient safety and experience of care.

Method: The Alfred hospital reconfigured one of its two psychiatry wards to include a female-only area. Documented incidents compromising the safety of women on each ward in the 6 months following the refurbishment were compared.