Finchley Memorial Hospital is investigating ways to improve the privacy of patients on its wards after the Times Series exposed it as a problem.

The hospital is looking into placing film over the windows of the wards so that patients can see out but other people cannot see in.

This decision has come after the Times Series reported that people living in flats near the hospital can see into the wards from their kitchen windows.

People living in top floor flats in Granville Place have been worried that some of the wards in the Granville Road hospital do not provide patients with sufficient privacy or dignity.

The residents of these flats spoke out after realising that after dark, when the lights are on in the hospital, they can see straight into the wards.

One woman, who lives in Granville Place but who asked not to be named, said: “I can see people in their beds and I can see into the bathrooms.

“What does that say for the privacy and dignity of the patients?

“For me it just doesn’t look right. I shouldn’t be acceptable.

“The hospital has not taken into consideration the privacy of the patients and I just can’t believe it. I wouldn’t like it if I was a patient.”

A spokesman for the hospital has reassured people that the blinds are always closed when patients are receiving any treatment and that they are only opened at the patients’ request.

The £28 million hospital has been purpose built to replace the old Finchley Memorial Hospital which is on the same site.

The new hospital, which is just starting to admit patients, has a walk-in centre, two GP practices, an out patients department, a rehabilitation department, diagnostics and an infusion suite for 12 people.

It also boasts indoor and outdoor gyms, a health information library, a multi-faith room and 54 private, en suite bedrooms for in patients.