The NHS trust managing Great Western Hospital faced more than £99,000 in fines for breaking a ban on mixed-sex wards - but didn't have to pay a penny.

Rules forbid men and women from sharing a ward but new figures revealed 397 recorded accommodation rule breaches between August 2018 and 2019.

This is one of the highest numbers in England and 345 more than during the 12 months before that.

NHS trusts are supposed to be fined £250 per patient each time they break the rules, so Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust would have faced fines of £99,250 during the year.

However, clinical commissioning groups have the power to waive the fines and the Swindon CCG chose not to enforce any of the potential penalties.

A Great Western Hospital spokeswoman said: “Swindon CCG does not fine the trust, but instead works with us to improve the flow of patients through the hospital, so patients are able to leave hospital as soon as they are well enough and beds remain available for new patients.

“While maintaining the privacy and dignity of our patients is a priority, when we are very busy we may begin a patient’s care in mixed sex acute assessment areas before they are moved to a ward.

“Patients are always cared for in single-sex bays on our wards and we protect each patient’s privacy and dignity in other areas using curtains when needed.”

The mixed-sex ward figures do not include instances where it is considered justified, such as in intensive care.

Across England, more than 19,900 breaches were recorded over the same 12-month period.

This is a 4.5 per cent increase on the previous year.

NHS England guidance says trusts are expected to have a zero-tolerance approach towards mixed sex accommodation, which it says is essential for ensuring safety, privacy and dignity for patients.

Enforcement of the fines is left to individual Clinical Commissioning Groups, which plan and buy healthcare from trusts. CCGs reinvested all proceeds from fines back into patient care.

A NHS England spokeswoman said: “The vast majority of trusts have completely eliminated breaches and, at an average of just 0.7 per cent, they remain extremely rare in the context of the hundreds of thousands of people who are admitted to hospital every month.

“The ambition remains to keep the number of times that this happens to an absolute minimum.”