Doctors urge for backless gowns to be ditched

Doctors have urged NHS hospitals to ditch 'humiliating' backless gowns which leave patients exposed during intimate examinations.

Launching a new ‘down with the gown’ campaign, doctors are challenging the standard practice to offer patients a robe which ties at the back, leaving much of the body on view, and urging the health service to prioritise the dignity of those undergoing examinations in hospital when they are vulnerable.

David Oliver, who used to be vice-president of the Royal College of Physicians, said that such gowns were too often used for no good reason, in a way that left patients embarrassed and uncomfortable.

In November, a Lancet study found found that seven in ten hospital patients who had been asked to wear such gowns were left feeling exposed. The research, involving more than 900 patients found six in ten felt self-conscious, and almost as many unsure if there had been any medical reason for them to be dressed in such a way .

Writing in the BMJ, Oliver said it was not right to expect patients to wear such garments, particularly in public areas, with other patients and visitors of the opposite sex.