More than 1,000 sexual assaults have been reported on NHS mixed-sex mental health wards since 2017, an investigation has found.

It follows calls for tighter rules to protect patients’ dignity and safety.

The figures show there were at least 1,019 reports of sexual assaults on mixed wards from April 2017 to October 2019.

Although trusts said they met official rules on single-sex accommodation, the wording allows them to have patients of different genders on the same ward, if the areas are divided up, as well as allowing shared lounges and bathrooms.

Just over a year ago, a Government-ordered review led by Sir Simon Wessely recommended that the Government "tighten" its definition of single-sex accommodation, to ensure wards were "genuinely" single sex.

This would mean entirely separate sleeping areas, access to bathrooms and toilets without having to pass through areas shared by another gender, and single sex day rooms.

The new figures show that by this definition, trusts have 668 mixed-sex wards and 803 mixed-sex communal areas.

The Freedom of Information data was provided to Health Service Journal, by 47 mental health trusts out of a total of 56.

Of the reports, 491 were considered serious enough to refer to safeguarding services, and 104 were reported to the police.