LIverpool WOMENS Hospital....

[HollywoodTease]

....seem a little confused.

I had a procedure there recently, they sent me a "how did we do" survey afterwards. They asked some questions so they can monitor equality and diversity. WTF?

I feel like I need to follow this up with someone, but I have no idea who or how. It's a meaningless mess, isn't it?

Yes it is. Male and Female are sex. Transgender or other are identities.

I’ve spent years having various treatment, monitoring, several pregnancies and surgeries at Liverpool Womens. I see your point but men are seen there, including my DH. Couples starting fertility investigations at the Hewitt centre are most likely to include certain checks done on the male partner … so they do need to include the word ‘male’.

LWH has a fertility clinic and is also neonatal medicine centre with a NICU, both of which might see men using the service. It’s not exactly something you need to ‘follow up’.

@WhackingPhoenix male and female are sex categories not gender which is something that a hospital should know

“Gender - what is your sex?”

Jeez, if a hospital can’t even get that right, what hope for everyone else?

A friend works in a doctor surgery and says that their computer system says ‘gender’ rather than sex.

If transgender needs to be included as a category which it well should be, it should be in addition to the sex category. It shouldn't replace it entirely.

A question "What is your sex?" that offers the option: "transgender" is utterly meaningless because it doesn't indicate in which way you are trans.

However, questions related to sex and gender identity are important and give valuable information.

It should be question: "what is your sex?"
Answer options "Female/male"
Followed by "what is your gender identity if you have one?"
Which should include a personal response option (limited to 100 characters) so that all of the hundreds of different gender identities can be recognised. With N/A for the vast majority.

Didn't clock that bit. But even so, it’s probably a standard template made by an external company designed to collect meaningless data en masse. It’s also entirely optional.

It’s because Gender meant ‘what sex are you?’ Until a few years ago.
I think a lot of people still find it a politer label to put on a form.

I took a sex education lesson once at secondary school which where they had optional anonymous question sheets to fill in, put in a box for me to read, then I would discuss next lesson so nobody felt embarrassed. The question sheets asked sex: which I suppose was useful so you could make sure you covered the answer from a boy/girl point of view.

The answers were funny/crude in equal measure. I don’t think one person put male or female.

Yes I've recently completed a survey from our NHS Trust that they are conducting to help them plan services.

Nowhere does it ask for biological sex.
Gender options Man, Woman, Non Binary, Other.

It's wrong as they say they will use this information to make sure they're being fair and equitable to plan to provide services. How can they?

Tut tut.You mean “Liverpool Persons with a Cervix Hospital”, surely, OP?

Oh god, that’s even worse than the OP! And that was bad enough. I’d like to see a silver lining, that with so many males adding to the Women category we might see women’s services getting more funding. But that’s a forlorn hope. And it would be spent on the males anyway.

I did complete the survey but I also sent this very quick email. Whether it does any good though.

I have completed the survey but I am confused. You have categorised by genders; Man, Woman, Non Binary, Other. You say this information will help you to ensure you are fair and equitable in the way you plan provided services. Many people identifying as a woman may actually have completely different health needs to biological females. The same with identifying Males. Why do you not categorise by biological sex? I am seeing this more and more in NHS literature and it seems very odd when the subject concerns health services.

I would be grateful for your response

It's all becoming a bit of a bugger's muddle isn't it?

They need two questions.

1. What is your sex as recorded on your birth certificate?
2. Optional question: What is your gender identity, if different to your sex at birth?

For the first question the only available answers should be male or female.

And for the second question the answers should be man, woman, non-binary, other or not applicable.

Or actually, trans man, trans woman, non-binary, other or not applicable.

For the second question, which should be based on protected characteristics, it should surely just ask if they have or are proposing to undergo the process of gender re-assignment.

I'm not sure I agree with this.

I find the whole concept of gender identity completely stupid. But gender reassignment means hormones and potentially surgery. I don't think anyone should be encouraged or coerced into doing these things to their healthy bodies.

So in that sense, if being able to tick a box on a medical form to say "I am female" and "I identify as a trans man" makes you feel better without needing to undergo any risky medical procedures, I think you should be allowed to do that.

Non applicable is nonsensical though because you are either one or the other!!

For me non applicable means "I don't have a gender identity", which is the option I would select since I think gender identity is all a load of bollocks!