FOI request to Nursing and Midwifery Council on training and policy for assigning Sex at birth returned

[HecatesCatsInFancyHats]

A freedom of information request made in February asking the NMC what training information or policies they held in relation to the procedure or process of assigning sex at birth. This request was made in response to a previous assertion made by the NMC that sex is assigned at birth (rather than observed, often in utero). The response has now returned after much delay and confirmed that they hold no information relating to this and suggesting that maybe the Royal College of Midwives could help. This action of ‘assigning’ (as well as risky) seems a bit superfluous as the sex of most babies is observed and reported long before birth.

Just goes to show the whole 'assigned sex at birth' thing is ridiculous - people's sex is observed at birth, and as you rightly say, sometimes even before.

Well done on making the request though.

Well, how odd... it's almost as if no training is required as sex is simply observed.

I wonder what the RCN would say.

There's certainly a disparity between real life and public discourse.

As a regulatory body for midwives, the NMC are a disgrace.

Don’t they know that children were correctly sexed before the RCM was established..? How did that happen? We just don’t know...

Aw I was really keen to know how they did it?

Flip a coin
One potato, two potato
Divining rods
Throw piece of apple peel over shoulder and see what shape it lands in
Reading the leaves or coffee grounds...

I assumed there was some kind of sorting hat involved.

The NMC have a register of who is a qualified midwife but no details about any training whatsoever beyond date of qualifying.

The RCM have the i-learn section on their website with lots of training packages. I can promise you there's no training package on assigning sex. Plus the rcm is a voluntary union and not every midwife signs up.

You are all so ignorant! It is quite obvious that they dangle a pink sock, a blue sock and a yellow sock in front of the baby's face. Whichever sock the baby's eyes are drawn to provides the answer. Obviously babies don't focus well at birth and this is how some come to be misgendered. Hopefully Mermaids will be fundraising for more accurate means of telling. Possibly observing responses to the Frozen soundtrack vs Transformers.

My independent midwife made a mark in my notes at my booking in appointment what she thought the baby's sex was - but didn't tell me that she had done so. When I had a scan at 22 weeks she got me to look in the notes and tell her whether she was right. She was. Nothing assigned there

This is shameful, I actually hope a JOURNALIST picks this up. Headline along the lines of:

Nursing and Midwifery Council submission to government committee regarding 'sex assigned at birth' not supported by any information they hold.

For anyone new to this, it was their submission to the Women's and Equalities Committee re the reform of the GRA.

I guess it's all sunlight.

@eurochick

I assumed there was some kind of sorting hat involved.

I’m picturing one of those low-fi bingo ball tumblers they use in nursing homes. Odds is a boy, evens a girl.

So wait, the NMC gave evidence to the WESC GRA inquiry that sex is assigned at birth?! Does anyone have a link to their submission?
FWIW, a relative of mine worked there and told they had been well and truly Stonewalled. Lots of rainbow lanyards and Stonewall invited along to stakeholder events.

Yes, except they don't assign sex at birth and there are no guidelines on assigning sex at birth, it's almost as if they just check the sex organs of the baby like humans have for millennia.

@WhereAreWeNow

So wait, the NMC gave evidence to the WESC GRA inquiry that sex is assigned at birth?! Does anyone have a link to their submission? FWIW, a relative of mine worked there and told they had been well and truly Stonewalled. Lots of rainbow lanyards and Stonewall invited along to stakeholder events.

This is their submission I believe. It's only 3 sides long so worth a read.

www.nmc.org.uk/globalassets/sitedocuments/consultations/2021/nmc-submission-to-women-and-equalities-committee-inquiry-into-reform-of-the-gender-recognition-act.pdf

Their submission seems to me to be all about their trans members and zero about their patients - mothers and babies and their supporting partners/families.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council say Our latest data as of 31 March 20206 shows that the number of nurses, midwives and nursing associates on our register whose gender identity does not match the sex they were assigned at birth (or within six weeks) was 4,484, equating to 0.6% of our total register.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council state the sex assignment errors there in black and white. Someone is incorrectly assigning sex of babies incorrectly at birth (or within six weeks). They need to investigate their guidelines for this wrong assignment, and if their guidelines need to updated so they don't keep assigning sex incorrectly.

Maybe they need intensive training in a checklist in order to assign sex. It is probably way too complicated for non medical people to comprehend , but they are they experts.

If they have no training or policies on how to assign sex at birth perhaps that explains how so many mistakes are made...

Goodness, I wonder what it is the common characteristic of the patients of the Nursing and Midwifery Council members; that renders them invisible and their treatment subordinate to their staff who have a different gender identity to the sex they were assigned at birth (or within six weeks).

Who cares about the women who are pregnant or giving birth? Anyone?

Bump

From the NMC code of conduct

Prioritise people
You put the interests of people using or needing nursing or midwifery services first. You make their care and safety your main concern and make sure that their dignity is preserved and their needs are recognised, assessed and responded to. You make sure that those receiving care are treated with respect, that their rights are upheld and that any discriminatory attitudes and behaviours towards those receiving care are challenged.

How can the rights of women be upheld if they cannot be identified?

@toffeebutterpopcorn

Aw I was really keen to know how they did it?

Flip a coin
One potato, two potato
Divining rods
Throw piece of apple peel over shoulder and see what shape it lands in
Reading the leaves or coffee grounds...

Same procedure that's used for assigning belly-buttons: Innie or Outie. www.healthline.com/health/what-causes-an-innie-or-outie-belly-button

Could anything be more arbitrary as regards designating sex? Tsk, tsk.

Here's a strange thing. www.gov.uk/government/publications/newborn-and-infant-physical-examination-programme-handbook/newborn-and-infant-physical-examination-screening-programme-handbook talks about the need to examine male babies for undescended testicles, but it doesn't tell how you can tell they are male. Must be witchcraft.

@nocoolnamesleft

Here's a strange thing. www.gov.uk/government/publications/newborn-and-infant-physical-examination-programme-handbook/newborn-and-infant-physical-examination-screening-programme-handbook talks about the need to examine male babies for undescended testicles, but it doesn't tell how you can tell they are male. Must be witchcraft.

Frankly, if any sex is known for not having pendulant testicles, it's the female one.

I have recently had a blood test, at ten weeks pregnant, to check for chromosomal issues. In addition to that information, the test could determine the foetus's sex.

It is not assigned at birth!

The BBC in this report do not use clear and appropriate language to describe women. Both of the HCPs interviewed talk about women - including the doctor from the Royal College of Obs & Gyns.

Covid and pregnancy - should you get the vaccine? www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-57013743

The trust I work in, the first form that’s filled out (at birth rather than when you get time to do the rest of the paperwork) doesn’t actually have a field for why the sex of the baby is . It does have a “genitalia” field and I write Male or Female there.