NHS charter to stress biological sex when placing
patients in wards
30 April
2024
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-68923861
Transgender
women should not be put on single-sex female NHS wards, the government is
proposing.
The measure
is part of a raft of changes to the NHS Constitution for England, the charter
of rights for patients.
The
proposals stress the importance of biological sex for the first time when it
comes to same-sex accommodation and intimate care.
In both
cases, the rights are available only where possible.
For
example, same-sex accommodation rights, which have existed for years, can and
are breached where there is a clinically urgent need to admit and treat a
patient and do not extend to areas such as critical care or accident and
emergency.
The
guidance also means that trans men should not be housed on single-sex male
wards.
Under the
proposals:
transgender
people, whose gender identity differs from their biological sex, may be
provided single rooms, where appropriate
patients
will have the right to request a person of the same biological sex delivers any
intimate care
Health
Secretary Victoria Atkins said it was about making it clear that "sex
matters".
"We
want to make it abundantly clear that if a patient wants same-sex care, they
should have access to it wherever reasonably possible," she said.
"By
putting this in the NHS Constitution, we're highlighting the importance of
balancing the rights and needs of all patients, to make a healthcare system
that is faster, simpler and fairer to all."
What does
trans mean and what is the Cass review?
'Trampled
over'
Maya
Forstater, of the Sex Matters campaign group, said the changes were
"excellent news".
"The
confusion between 'sex' and 'gender' in official policies like the NHS
Constitution is what has enabled women's rights to be trampled over in the name
of transgender identities," she said.
But Cleo
Madeleine, of trans-led group Gendered Intelligence, said robust policies were
already in place and the government had its priorities wrong.
"After
14 years of austerity, medical professionals are crying out for more funding,
more resources, and better conditions for staff and patients," she said.
"The
government seems hell-bent on pursuing its obsession with the transgender
community instead of addressing these longstanding needs."
'Martha's rule'
The changes
are part of a wider review of the NHS Constitution, which the government must
complete every 10 years.
They also
include a plan to embed patients and their loved ones' right to access a rapid
review from outside the care team if the patient is deteriorating.
This is the
right behind "Martha's rule", which is being introduced in the NHS,
to ensure patients know they can ask for a second opinion, with the government
providing funding to hospitals for posters and leaflets informing patients and
their families.
Martha
Mills died aged 13, after being admitted to King's College Hospital, south
London, in 2021, having injured her pancreas slipping on to the handlebars of
her bike while cycling.
She later
developed sepsis - but with better care, could have survived, an inquest found.
All the
changes will be consulted on over the next eight weeks, before the constitution
is updated later this year.
Labour's
shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: "Rights on paper are worthless
unless they are delivered in practice.
"The
NHS constitution already pledges that no patient will have to share an
overnight ward with patients of the opposite sex, but that is not the case for
too many patients."
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