The health secretary says he is looking at plans to prevent men who identify as women from using female-only hospital wards.
Steve Barclay told the Conservative Party Conference he would look into changing the NHS constitution to address concerns about biological men using wards intended for biologically female patients.
The move would offer the same for male-only wards and women who identify as men.
It would also ensure that patients’ requests to have intimate care provided by someone of the same sex are respected.
Speaking at the Manchester conference on Tuesday, Mr. Barclay also confirmed that “sex-specific language” had now been fully restored to NHS online health advice pages on conditions such as cervical cancer and the menopause.
His intervention followed what he called “unacceptable changes to the NHS website that erased women from conditions such as cervical cancer,” and stopping the NHS from making staff declare their pronouns.
Rights Protection
Mr. Barclay will open a consultation on changes to the NHS constitution aimed at bringing forward the changes.Outside the conference hall, Mr. Barclay added: “We need a common-sense approach to sex and equality issues in the NHS—that is why today I am announcing proposals for clearer rights for patients.
“And I can today confirm that sex-specific language has now been fully restored to online health advice pages about cervical and ovarian cancer and the menopause.
“It is vital that women’s voices are heard in the NHS and the privacy, dignity, and safety of all patients are protected.”
Home Secretary Suella Braverman gave her backing to the plans, telling broadcasters on a visit to Bolton: “Trans women have no place in women’s wards or indeed any safe space relating to biological women.
“And the health secretary is absolutely right to clarify and make it clear that biological men should not have treatments in the same wards and in the same safe spaces as biological women.
“This is about protecting women’s dignity and women’s safety and women’s privacy. And that’s why I’m incredibly supportive and I welcome the announcement today by the health secretary.”
Elsewhere in his speech, Mr. Barclay confirmed reports that he would announce the creation of three new medical schools at the University of Worcester, the University of Chester, and Brunel University in Uxbridge, west London.
He also announced a £30 million fund aimed at speeding up the adoption of new technology within the NHS.
‘Chestfeeding’
Mr. Barclay’s gender intervention comes a year after a storm over the removal of the word “women” from the NHS menopause health site.The web page previously described the condition as “when a woman stops having periods and is no longer able to get pregnant naturally.”
In May 2022, it changed the description to become gender-neutral, stating, “Menopause is when your periods stop due to lower hormone levels.”
Its previous advice also highlighted menopause usually occurs in women between the ages of 45 and 55, but about 1 in 100 women experience it before 40.
That information was completely removed in the overview section of the updated web page.
Justifying the change, NHS Digital told the newspaper it wanted language to be “inclusive and respectful.”
In 2020, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust became the first UK hospital trust to adopt the terms “breast/chestfeeding” and “human milk” for its perinatal services.
In addition, the hospital trust replaced “maternity” with “perinatal,” and “maternal consent” with “informed consent.” Parent was replaced by co-parent, and “second biological parent” was also added.
