Should I enter the NHS as a trainee nurse if I am gender critical?

[Balicious]

I have been offered a place on a nursing degree apprenticeship within a GP surgery. Since I applied I have watched YouTube videos that GP nurses have posted in relation to the trans healthcare they have to provide. It appears the NHS is pro-trans and since the scandal came out about the rape on a NHS ward and the gaslighting of a patient following this assault, I am rethinking entering the NHS at all. Please help! I am deeply concerned about gender ideology and the effects it is having on women and children. I must admit I would struggle to treat anyone under the age of 18 with hormone blockers/hormonal injections. Will I struggle in the NHS with these views? Am I nursing material or should I reconsider? Honest opinions will be greatly appreciated.

Nothing wrong with "pro-trans" if it's not at anyone else's expense.
I think you'll be better placed to care for people if you accept it.
As you're new to the role, you should ask colleagues to define unclear terms and policies as clearly as possible, perhaps in writing if you're worried about misunderstanding them or having negative consequences further down the line.

I work for the nhs. I don’t think it massively affects our day to day working lives anymore than it does any other profession.

Your personal opinion should not have an impact on your professionalism within a role. You leave that at home when you start any job, especially within the NHSnor emergency services, honestly If you don’t think you can do that then it might not be the right job for you.

Why don’t you just self identify as a doctor and give yourself a wee leg up?

If you think your personal opinions would affect the treatment a patient might receive, then this isn't the right job for you.

I would say the same to a pro lifer who wanted to be a pharmacist (morning after pill) or GP.

I'm an NHS nurse with similar views, I treat everyone with the same respect and am happy to call people by whatever name they choose and refer to them he/she/they as preferred. other than that it just depends where you work, unless planning on working in specialist areas dealing with trans gender issues/treatment specifically it has never involved more than that for me. It's about treating everyone as an individual, not being pro/anti anything in my experience.
You might also have to treat people with criminal pasts, murderers/rapists, people who are nasty/abusive. that's way more difficult to accept and look past. Many challenges but a great job.

The NMC code states we shouldn't get into discussions while at work about personal beliefs ie. Religion/politics and that covers transgender issues. Keep your beliefs to yourself, don't enter into conversations about it with patients/ relatives or colleagues and you'll be fine.

My DH is in the NHS (non clinical). At his Trust people seem comfortable to say things like "we need to have birth sex recorded for every patient" and "we should use pregnant women not people in our forms" , so I wouldn't say the entire NHS has lost sight of human biology.

Why would you have to worry about not wanting to inject hormones etc unless you were working specifically in this area?

Congratulations on your placement. Getting these NHS degree apprenticeships is quite difficult and they are fantastic. Take this opportunity and deal with these scenarios as they come up.
From my perspective we need more NHS employees with your attitude towards safeguarding women and children.
Good luck.

I had to see a nurse who I’d never met before after a transition-related surgery as my incision needed redressing - you should think about whether you’d be able to treat someone in that position the same as you would treat anyone else

If you can't treat patients appropriately regardless of who they are then don't accept the placement but I think the examples you have given are really specific and are highly unlikely to ever arise.

In nursing you will see a lot of things you don't like or argee with if you can't get past that it's not the job for you .
People need to be treated not judged.

Unless you actually get a job at the Tavistock, you're unlikely to end up doing any 'care' which would prickle your conscience in that way.

What's more concerning is the prospect of being ordered to lie to patients about who is in the next bed. Putting patients at risk but being unable to speak out would trouble me greatly. The NHS is a very dysfunctional organisation and reacts to whistleblowers particularly badly.

It's it just this issue or do you think you may struggle to be impartial with your views in general?

Working in a people facing role requires professionalism; the ability to leave your opinions and home and tow the company line.

I actually think it would be very unkind of you to refuse treatment to a trans teenager. Whether you agree with their decision or not, they deserve medical care surely? To deny that seems particularly cruel.

I assume you will be able to choose which area of the NHS you wish to work in on qualifying?
When I qualified as a mental health nurse many moons ago now ,after having a placement in a forensic setting I knew it wouldn't be right for me so never worked in that area
If you can't be professional and non non judgemental ( or at least appear to be) in a clinical setting it's probably best not to work in that environment.

As a nurse I’ve nursed all sorts of people from all different backgrounds and people who have opinions I don’t necessarily agree with. I’ve also nursed prisoners and drug addicts etc. You have to learn to treat everyone as an equal, with dignity and respect and be non judgemental. Everyone has an equal right to NHS care and treatment regardless. It doesn’t mean you can’t have an opinion. But when you come to work, they need to stay at the door.

For what it’s worth, I share similar views but honestly the issue has never really come up at work but if it did I would be happy to be respectful and use people’s preferred pronouns and treat them the same as any other patient.

I hope you can find a way to overcome this as there must be a reason you were offered a place as nursing apprenticeship places aren’t easy to come by and we desperately need more good nurses at the moment! Congratulations and good luck!

Honestly, if you have biases that mean you cannot treat all patients with the same respect and care they deserve then I would say no, you should not be in the nursing career.
The last thing a young trans person needs while trying to access healthcare is a prejudiced nurse.

I think posters aren’t reading your Op. I understand that injecting a 16 year old with T would be difficult for you, but we need people in the NHS who can support everyone to the same standard, and that includes young people with gender dysphoria who need evidence based care not politically driven affirmation only.

You should probably have a serious honest word with yourself about whether you'd be able to provide respectful, dignified care to a trans patient without your prejudices getting in the way, because if you can't, you have no business being a nurse.

@OneEpisode

I think posters aren’t reading your Op. I understand that injecting a 16 year old with T would be difficult for you, but we need people in the NHS who can support everyone to the same standard, and that includes young people with gender dysphoria who need evidence based care not politically driven affirmation only.

The nurse would not be the one who decides the appropriate care pathway for patient with gender dysphoria, and it would not be their place to argue with it, or to refuse to provide treatment which has been prescribed by a doctor.

Ex-nurse, first post. Nerve touched.

I worked in ICU (fun fact - it's brilliant for newly qualified nurses but they are frequently scared off) and had a patient who attempted suicide. Although they survived it wasn't a cry for help and they suffered devastating injuries. The patient was no longer able to live with their immediate family's rejection of their chosen gender identity.

This led to a bizzare situation where some staff supported the patients' choice and others sympathised with the parents views - this person was over eighteen but still at home. It led to stupidity such as the patient's name above their bed being changed with the shift.

I thought it was fucking disgusting and advocated for the patient. This young adult had horrific trauma both physical and mental - this wasn't attention-seeking but a miraculous survival. I had sympathy for the parents but their principles mattered more than the child desperately reaching out to them. To see this supported by a majority of staff - well, I didn't work there much longer.

They made a reasonable recovery but it was life changing injuries. It is hard - in ICU your patients are, on the whole, asleep or out of it so the main interaction is with the family and of course you build a connection.

But it is never the place of a nurse to make value judgements when it is related to a patient. They should always advocate for their patient and respect their choices. This was a few years ago and hopefully it may have improved now but I will never forget it.

I also won't forget the rampant bullying from both staff and patients, the appalling starving of the NHS over many years and the abysmal care I have both observed and received. And it wasn't that long ago.

You will notice I don't mention my own views on transgender issues. Because it doesn't (or shouldn't) fucking matter. If you can't stow your opinions you shouldn't be even thinking about nursing, it's no different to views on abortion.

@LagunaBubbles

Why would you have to worry about not wanting to inject hormones etc unless you were working specifically in this area?

Don't people get the hormones once they've been prescribed through their GP and perhaps sometimes need help?

My DD is gender critical and is about to start on a nursing degree. Hopefully things like the Cass report will help to shift NHS thinking in time about the effect of too early and inappropriate intervention for young people.

@user3837313202

If you think your personal opinions would affect the treatment a patient might receive, then this isn't the right job for you.

I would say the same to a pro lifer who wanted to be a pharmacist (morning after pill) or GP.

The two are not comparable because there is specific provision for a health professional to refuse to participate in abortive treatment, whereas there is no such provision to refuse to care for a person who is transgender.

OP, there are so many people you will come across whose values don't align with yours for whatever reason. As a nurse, you will learn to see past those differences and connect with the patient so you can provide individualised care.

I understand your views about denying biology in a ward situation. I think, yes, you would have to respect patient confidentiality and you would not be able to disclose the birth sex of someone who transitioned, even if asked directly by a patient or their relative, even if it is immediately observable.