The NHS’s charter will affirm biological sex and patients in England will have the right to be treated in single-sex wards, the government has proposed.
Health Secretary Victoria Atkins announced on Tuesday plans to update the NHS Constitution so that it will affirm sex-based care and language, with the government pledging, “we are defining sex as biological sex.”
Under the proposals, which are subject to consultation, men and women will have the right to request to be treated in single-sex ward. People who identify as the opposite gender could be provided with a single room.
Patients will also be able to request that intimate care—such as examinations of breasts and genital areas—is conducted by someone of the same sex.
Ms. Atkins said: “We have always been clear that sex matters and our services should respect that. 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 for all.”
Maya Forstater, the chief executive of the human rights charity Sex Matters, said in response to the announcement: “Victoria Atkins explicitly referring to biological sex is very significant.
“It will benefit anyone who needs same-sex intimate care in the NHS in England, or who may do so in the future.”
“We can expect an outraged response from trans rights activists, but this is simply a return to common sense, and an overdue recognition that women’s wellbeing and safety matter,” Ms. Forstater added.
Term ‘Woman’ Will Not Be Eradicated
The health minister also said that the term “woman” should not be “eradicated” from the English language in order to be “inclusive” of people who identify as a different gender.Ms. Atkins told Sky News that language used in the NHS should be “clear,” detailing an experience she had when visiting a hospital that referred to pregnant women as “service users.”
The minister said: “I visited a wonderful maternity unit recently full of warmth and joy and happiness with wonderful members of staff, but they were talking about ‘service users’ and I realised after a while they meant women or mums-to-be or mothers—the language that we would use in conversation when talking about someone having a baby.”
The Cass Report
The NHS Constitution outlines the rights of patients and employees and is updated every ten years. The proposed changes to the NHS Constitution will be subject to an eight-week consultation and include commitments to providing patients with a second opinion if their condition is deteriorating.Mr. Streeting added: “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.”
“Labour supports single-sex wards and will provide the staff, investment and reform the NHS needs to make sure every patient can be cared for safely,” he continued.
