Transwoman on women's ward

[Sallycinnamum]

Had a minor gynae procedure today but nevertheless was very anxious leading up to it.

Was wheeled back to the day ward to be greeted quite literally (started waving at me) by a transwoman in the bed opposite me.

There was no doubt he was a man and being completely immobile due to a spinal anaesthetic with no underwear on I asked the nurse to completely close the curtains so he couldn't look directly at me.

Spoke to a nurse who confirmed it wasn't a mixed ward.

I am so upset. I felt so vulnerable especially as I couldn't walk so had to pee into a bedpan in clear earshot of him.

I've emailed PALS but I feel so bloody fed up of it all. Had a man next to me in the M&S lingerie changing rooms a few weeks ago and was made to feel like a total bigot when I complained to the staff.

Well done for following it up - completely unacceptable response though. They have broken the law, and worse, impacted your dignity on a ward. This definitely needs taking further!

Interesting that you got a call. Trying to head you off?

Yes. And it's not up to the ward sister to deal with, either.

NHS policies need to be defended by the people who put them in place.

And not admissible in court.

OP, please take notes of what was said in the call - as much info as possible: time, name, discussion.

This thread is a good record.

Going forward, try to get things in writing if you can, rather than phone calls.

I agree. The ward sister is also in breach of GDPR here, as she should not be discussing another patient's medical history.

The must be a complaints procedure. Many organizations deny any issues unless the complaint went thru “complaints procedure in our website”

If goes thru formal procedure, it gets logged / esp if it’s “safeguarding”

lodge a formal complaint

Well done you. Such nonsense even if he has got his penis cut off which he hasn’t he still cannot fully transition to be a woman because he is a man. Sick of this nonsense and hijacking of language.

That's a very good point.

I am glad you've taken this further @Sallycinnamum

I don't know why the ward sister bothered to call you if she was only prepared to repeat the mantra and not engage with you at all. Pointless.

Please do keep up the good work and pin them down about it. I know it's bloody exhausting and you've got loads of other things to do, though, as we all do.

I was also paralysed from the waist down after having an op under a regional anaesthetic, also wet myself as I had no sensation. I'd have been mortified if any man had been anywhere near me then. Especially now I know so much, far too much, about male fetishes. Ugh.

.

why on earth is a ward sister left defending this? She didn’t write the trust policy or the ed&i training.

@Sallycinnamum I recommend taking the approach of another occupant of a ward I was on recently - an older lady who was bedbound with dementia discovered she was quite successful if she repeatedly called out loudly “nurse! Nurse! Help me! Nurse!” Volume increasing when nurse ignored her. Once she got to just shouting out “help! Help! Help! Help” every three to five seconds, someone would notice her.

By the way I completely agree with you - I was in a female only ward for a while bedbound following an operation . I am a middle aged woman.

I did not even enjoy having to use the bedpan when there were male visitors of the person in the bed adjacent to me. I simply waited until they left which meant often I wouldn’t have a drink for a few hours. I felt vulnerable knowing that I was unable to move and I was naked from the waist down and in a hospital gown. Past experience of SA by an adult male which is always going to leave me feeling vulnerable.

It is not nice or healthy to feel you have to keep your cubicle curtains closed all day. It was over 26 degrees in my ward (summer) and not having fresh air or being able to talk to the other female was occupants would have been depressing and uncomfortable.n

All the staff will be DBS checked and trained so hopefully able to carry out their roles professionally and if not there are procedures. According to studies, a vulnerable woman in a mixed sex area carries a high safeguarding risk, while women are safer in same sex areas.

Bloody hell what an update! I hope you take this further

You should check out the public files for NHS staff disciplinary meetings… enough to make your hair curl and never want to set foot in a hospital again.

Predatory men will use any guise to access vulnerable women. Men who demand access to women’s spaces because they feel more entitled to feel safe in them than they deem women to be, are some of the most dangerous of all though.

But a male doesn't have the right to live in peace on a single sex female ward.

Can you read? OP didn’t ask him anything. He told a nurse in the presence of the female patients on the ward. OP isn’t the idiot here.

That sounds very much like a personal attack

And yes the beliefs of a woman in these circumstances trump those of a man.

Sure. They can express whatever they like. In a male ward. Because he is male. Women's rights are protected by law. Trans ideology is not.

The Equality Act says that the provision of single sex services is based on biological sex. This means men shouldn't be placed on female wards.