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Hospitals routinely allow male patients to share female wards if they self-identify as women, an investigation by The Telegraph has found.
Despite official guidance intended to eliminate mixed sex wards, none of the NHS trusts in England require a patient to have begun transition for them to be treated as their preferred sex, according to responses to more than 100 Freedom of Information requests.
One trust even advises staff to consult with the transgender patient if a female victim of sexual assault objects to sharing facilities with someone who may be biologically and legally male.
The NHS is unable to track how many transgender people are accommodated on wards for the opposite sex because data systems record them as their “preferred” sex.
The Department of Health’s “elimination of mixed sex wards” guidance upon which individual trusts must base their policies says that “men and women should not have to share sleeping accommodation or toilet/bathroom facilities”. But the document adds, “except where it is in the overall best interests of the patient or reflects their patient choice”.
As a result, a physically intact male has the right to choose to be treated on a ward for women that is simultaneously declared to be single sex.
David Davies, the Tory MP, described the guidance as “driving a coach and horses” through the need for single sex facilities. “It’s quite right that a Conservative government made a commitment to end mixed sex wards,” he said. “But people with male bodies should be on male wards.”
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The Telegraph has been contacted by a nurse at a city hospital with a report of a patient identifying as a transgender woman who appeared to become sexually aroused on a female ward, causing distress to a group of elderly patients.
The incident raises concerns about the lack of “equality impact assessments” (EIAs) that should be undertaken by law to determine the effect on all groups that may be affected by transgender policy changes. EIAs seen by The Telegraph appear to have taken into account the impact only on transgender patients rather than on others who should also be considered because of their sex, age or religion.
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“If you aren’t even considering other groups in your equality impact assessments, your policy cannot be lawful,” said Amanda Jones, a barrister at Great James Street Chambers. She described the NHS’s interpretation of the law with regard to the rights of transgender patients as “a mess”.
More than 80 per cent of people who identify as transgender do not undertake “gender reassignment” surgery, according to the Gender Identity Research & Education Society (GIRES), a charity that advises the Government.
Under the Gender Recognition Act 2004, transsexual people must live as the opposite sex for two years and be assessed by a medical panel following a diagnosis of gender dysphoria to qualify for a gender recognition certificate. Despite official estimates that the UK transgender population is between 200,000 and 500,000 or 0.7 per cent of the public, only around 5,000 certificates have ever been issued – and none of the trusts said they required transgender patients to have one.
Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust said it would class someone as transgender “without ever going to see a doctor”.
The definition of transgender within the NHS includes non-binary, gender-fluid, gender queer and non-gender – people who do not feel male or female. It means male patients who do not claim to live as women have the right to choose to stay on women’s wards.
Fewer than 10 trusts considered the needs of the majority of patients when allocating transgender patients to wards, with two more considering accommodation for transgender patients on a case-by-case basis. West Suffolk NHS Trust said the transgender patient’s right to be in a single sex environment of their preferred gender “supersedes objections raised by other patients” despite women and men having a right to segregated facilities under the Equality Act 2010. It said that while a female victim of sexual assault could “reasonably” object to being on the same ward as someone they “perceive to be male”, staff should “seek the view of the trans service user” before any action was taken.
Dr Nicola Williams of Fair Play for Women, said: “In an attempt to accommodate a minority, the state is sacrificing the needs of the majority at their most vulnerable.
“We have sex segregated facilities for a reason and I’m horrified those rights – for both sexes – have been removed without any consultation.”
Fewer than 10 trusts that replied reported complaints or incidents concerning transgender patients. But many pointed out that their systems allow patients to be defined only as male or female, with incidents or complaints involving transgender patients listed by their preferred sex.
A spokesman for NHS Improvement said: “As the guidance on mixed sex accommodation makes clear, decisions should be made in the best interests of all patients and based on the circumstances presented to NHS staff.”
A Stonewall spokesman said: “Everyone accessing healthcare services should be treated with respect, including trans people, who currently face huge levels of abuse in all areas of their lives. It’s important NHS trusts are working to ensure trans patients are treated equally because our research shows two in five trans people (37 per cent) avoid treatment for fear of discrimination.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...entify-female/
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